


You were my angel

by Junliet



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Angst, Blood, Character Death, F/M, Gun Violence, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Mafia AU, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-03-02 18:15:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 18
Words: 59,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18816349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Junliet/pseuds/Junliet
Summary: “Everyone, everything has a weak point.” The man speaking held up a glittering gem, admiring it. “You find the tiny weakness, the pressure point, anything, and,” he slammed it down hard on his desk, shattering little fragments across the floor, “you use that to make a crack, and then you make them shatter completely."A mafia au that isn't fluffy or fun. Please, please check the warnings





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE CHECK THE WARNINGS OKAY? PLEASE? PRETTY PLEASE?
> 
> Hi everyone. I'm trying something new, something I've been planning for a while now. I've written fluff for a while now, so I think it's time for something a bit different. This is pretty much angst from beginning to end, sorry about that. It should also be called "Jun Hwan Cha deserves all the hugs in the world." Sorry Jun
> 
> I've marked this with several tags, but most of them won't be anything explicit. I've put them as tags because I don't want to be murdered by half of the fandom.
> 
> Anyway, big thank you to a certain someone for encouraging me to write this (and for helping me to study for my exams). This first, slightly less bad chapter is for you xxx
> 
> Please try and enjoy xx

Jun only realised that the restaurant he and Jason had taken summer jobs at wasn’t all it seemed when he nearly got caught in the middle of a shootout. One of his bosses, was Javier his name, had shoved him behind the main counter as gunfire filled the establishment and yelled at him to keep his head down. Windows shattered across the front of the restaurant, the mirrors on the walls broke under the hail of gunfire, some of the Italian style paintings on the walls were destroyed, and Jun pressed his back against the counter, shaking in pure terror and from the adrenaline. The adrenaline coursed through him, blocking out his confusion, and he kept himself as hidden as he could; he pressed his back firmly against the counter. He felt every bullet as it embedded itself into the other side of the wood of the counter that acted as his only defence. After what felt like hours, the gunfire stopped. The teenager held his head in his hands, eyes closed as he tried to come to terms with what had just happened.

“Take him to the cell and lock him up,” Javier hissed, waving his gun. Poking his head just above the counter, Jun watched as three of his co-workers dragged a Japanese man away. Jun only caught sight of his black hair, covered in debris from the broken restaurant, before his head was covered with a bag and the man was pulled away roughly, stumbling over himself. Red stains covered his ill-fitting suit jacket and trousers, and his neat black shoes half stuck to the floor due to the blood covering the bottom of them.

“You alright kid?” Jun’s eyes snapped to Javier. “Sorry you got caught in that shit. But it happens. You get hit or something?”

“I-I… No, no, I’m okay. Where’s Jason?”

“In the back room. I pushed him in there when it started getting suspicious in here. I’m sorry I couldn’t push you in there too, but you were serving them and it would have been even more suspicious to shove you there in the middle of serving their drinks. I was letting this shit play out to see what they might do. I’m sorry that happened.” The teen was offered a hand up and he took it, legs wobbly as the adrenaline left him. “Fucking hell, why now?”

“What happened?” Jun dared to ask.

“Shootout.” Javier’s face was set in a grim expression. “They came in here, probably trying to get someone or something. Shootouts are pretty good distractions. They failed though, and we got one of theirs. A serial attacker here. He’s killed a lot of our people before, but he plays everyone. His whole game is get caught, escape, get caught, escape.”

Jun nodded, still not understanding what was going on. Javier shoved a broom at him.

“Start clearing up the debris kid. If you come across a body, you can keep their wallet, watches, whatever you find on them. Give me the weapons though kid. I’d rather not have them in the hands of someone untrained.”

“W-wait,” Jun held up his free hand, the broom in the other, “I… I’m so confused. Why did those guys shoot up a restaurant? It’s just a restaurant.”

“And here I thought you were smart,” Javier sighed. “This isn’t just a restaurant. It’s one of many businesses run by our organisation. And our organisation has quite a few enemies around the world.”

“Jo-Pok…” Jun whispered, mouth agape. “No… No, please, please be joking.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“Organised crime…”

“Mafia. Say it kid. Mafia.”

Jun’s legs buckled and he fell onto debris covered floor. He scrambled away from Javier, breathing becoming frantic and panicky. He ignored the shards of broken glass stabbing into his palms in favour of putting as much distance between him and Javier as he could.

“You can’t leave, you know.” Javier fiddled with his gun. “Not now you know what you know. So, you have a choice. You can try to run and I will decorate the wall and floor with the insides of your head, or you can stay here, keep your mouth shut about where you work, and live another day. We’ll still pay you and everything. Life will go back to the way it used to be. You’ll just know more than you used to. And more than you should know, but we’ll ignore that much.”

He offered Jun a hand up. The teenager took it, legs shaking in fear as he stood, and he slowly bent down to pick up the broom.

“I-I’d rather not die…”

“Good choice. I like you kid. And we kind of have a strict “keep the kids out of the drama” rule. Brian put it in there. Of course, there are exceptions, but I’d rather none of you youngsters got hurt. You, Conrad and Joseph.”

“What about Jason?”

“Well, he’s older. He’s not a kid anymore. He knows what could happen. I’d rather no one got hurt but, if I had to choose, I’d rather an adult got hurt than a kid.”

Jun’s stomach twisted in fear and he just nodded in compliance. Turning away from Javier, he started sweeping from by the door. He swallowed down a scream when he rounded one of the corners and found a man lying on ground, blood covering half of his head and face. His black hair was stuck down with the sticky blood. His brown eyes were open and unmoving as Jun gingerly reached for his wrist.

No pulse.

“There you are,” Jun turned, standing up with the broom still held in his hands and his face a sickly shade of green. Brian’s face softened at him. “Are you alright? No injuries?”

“No… No, yeah, I’m okay…”

Brian patted his arm. “Next time you run to the backroom with me, okay?”

“Okay,” Jun mumbled, looking down at the floor. Two guys beside him moved the body.

Almost numbly, Jun carried on cleaning the area. He didn’t find anymore bodies, and it was almost amusing how other co-workers of his corrected everything; they brought out identical copies of the pictures destroyed and moved them around to cover some of the newer bullet holes in the walls. They straightened the tables and had someone looking at the windows within the same hour as the fight. Jun would have laughed if he hadn’t been terrified for his life.

“Hey,” Jun looked up from his seat on the floor in the backroom, leaning against the wall. Jason sat down next to him, looping an arm around his shoulders, “you okay?”

The Korean teen nodded, leaning his head on Jason’s shoulder. “What are we doing, Jason? We… We just wanted summer jobs. We didn’t sign up for this.”

“I know,” Jason rubbed at his arm in an attempt to comfort him, “I know we didn’t. But… I don’t know what we can do now…”

“Excuse me,” both looked up to see Javier. He held something out to Jun. “These are yours now. Since you found him first.”

Jun looked at the item: a wallet. He cautiously opened it, seeing hundreds of thousands of yen, credit cards and membership cards. Jun moved the notes and stopped. There, nestled at the back, was a photo of the guy he’d seen on the floor with a smiling woman and a baby, no older than three months old. He was looking at the woman and she was cuddling the baby close. The love in their eyes made Jun’s stomach lurch.

Jun made it to the corner of the room before he was sick.

* * *

 

“So, Hanyu, we meet again,” Javier purred as he stepped into the cell with two guards following behind him. He traced the edges of the chains and handcuffs connecting the other to the wall. “It’s a shame really that we only meet in these circumstances. And that you never learn and keep getting caught.” He turned the guards and nodded towards the door. “Leave. He can’t attack me, not chained up like that, and he won’t escape while I’m here. He won’t get past the chains, let alone me.”

The guards both nodded to him, leaving the cell. Both the remaining men waited in silence, listening as the footsteps died away to nothing.

Javier took a look at the man next to him. Even in chains, he still held his composure without cracking. With his hair still covered in dust as well as filled with shards of glass and other people’s blood, his eyes still burned with a fire of rage and passion. Wearing a blood covered, ill-fitting suit, he still held himself like a king or emperor about to make a speech to his court and kingdom. His slim body was held against the wall with chains to his wrists and ankles as well as one around his waist and neck, and Javier smirked as he advanced on the other.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it Yuzuru?”

“Too long Javier,” the Japanese man smirked, tilting his head at the other as dust spilt from his hair onto the shoulder of his black suit jacket.

“Isn’t it a shame,” Javier sighed, trapping Yuzuru against the wall between his arms, “that our meetings are never under better circumstances?”

Yuzuru surged forwards but missed Javier by a hair’s breadth. “It is. And it’s a shame that, when we are together, you’re always there, just out of reach.”

“Beg for it.” Javier whispered. Yuzuru didn’t break eye contact with him.

“You wish.”

Javier smirked, thumb rubbing Yuzuru’s cheek. “It amazes me how much you insist on defying me, even here where I could do anything and you wouldn’t be able to resist.”

“But you wouldn’t.” Yuzuru met Javier’s look with his own. “Because I know you wouldn’t. I trust you.”

“I trust you too,” Javier whispered, leaning towards him. “Can I?”

“Please.”

Javier closed the distance between them, kissing the Japanese man with all the emotions that had been building up through the months they’d been absent from each other. When they pulled apart, Javier cupped Yuzuru’s face, smiling at him with love in his eyes.

“I missed you. I really missed you, Yuzu.”

“I missed you too Javi.”

“I’m sure you know why I can’t let you go,” he whispered, peppering his face in light kisses. “And we have to… you know, to keep up appearances.”

“I know. It’s okay.”

Yuzuru turned his head to the side as Javier forced himself to calm down. He raised a hand and slapped Yuzuru’s face, much more gently than he would have slapped any other prisoner. He did it again on the other side to show to the guards and other prisoners that Yuzuru didn’t get any preferential treatment.

“I’m sorry,” Javier mumbled when he was done messing up Yuzuru’s face and body with other abuses. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to. I didn’t want to do that to you.”

“It’s okay,” Yuzuru breathed slowly. “It’s okay. I have to do it to you too when you’re in Japan. I’m just sorry we’ve had to do this.”

“One day,” Javier unbuttoned Yuzuru’s shirt, kissing the junction of his neck and shoulder, “one day we can be free together Yuzu.”

Yuzuru pushed himself as far forwards as the chains allowed, kissing at Javier’s neck too. “One day.” He mumbled.

The pair stayed there for a while, with Javier holding Yuzuru close to him and Yuzuru resting his head on the other’s shoulder as much as he could against the chains.

Javier kissed his forehead, emotions swirling in his eyes. “I’ll be back when I can. I’m sorry for everything.”

“I forgive you,” Yuzuru said, tilting his head with a little smirk as Javier straightened out both of their suits and headed to the door of the cell. “It’s who we are, isn’t it anyway?”

Javier sighed, waving to him with a soft smile before he schooled his features. “See you again soon, you filthy Jap. I’m going to enjoy playing with you every single day for as long as you can survive it. But we wouldn’t kill you Hanyu, oh no, that would be much too nice a death for someone like you. No. You’re going to tell us everything you know before we finally finish you off, even if I have to rip it from your throat in screams.” he spat, loud enough for everyone else to hear before he left the cell, locking it behind him. “Enjoy suffering.”

_I’m sorry Yuzuru. I wish this wasn’t how we had to live._

* * *

 

Javier opened a set of double doors, the room falling silent as he walked in and took the empty seat at the circular table. He buttoned up his suit jacket and adjusted it before he looked around.

“Don’t stop the discussion on my behalf. Please,” Javier gestured with his hand, “continue.”

“Javi,” an older man looked at him with a firm frown on his face, “what’s the hostage situation?”

Javier leaned back in his seat and poured himself a glass of water, knocking it back. “God, I wish that was vodka. Anyway Brian, the situation is the same as normal. He won’t talk, like always, so we’ll probe him for information tomorrow after giving him a night in that cell again.”

“He must like it there,” both Javier and the older man looked up at the guy across the table who piped up. “You can never get any information out of him Javier. Why don’t you let me loose with him for once?”

“Because we might want the hostage alive at the end of it, Patrick?” Javier said lazily, leaning back in his seat.

“Your success rate on this guy’s been shit Javi. Maybe it’s time to let someone else take over.”

“By all means, someone else can do it.” Javier gestured to the rest of the table. “Scott? Tessa?”

“That’s not our domain and you know it.” Scott said firmly. “We do field work, not torture.”

“Kaetlyn?”

“Yeah, no thanks. I don’t think I’m aggressive enough for that.”

“Gabrielle?”

“Leave her out of it,” the older man cut in.

“Nam? Keegan? You’d work well together on like a good cop bad cop style of thing.”

Nam snorted, downing his own glass of water. “I mean, I know how to interrogate someone, but my success rate is pretty terrible to be honest.”

“That’s because you never actually follow through on any of your threats.” Keegan pointed out. “And I can interrogate him if you want me to Javier. But I’d rather not. I’m trying to secure those shipments when no one will be sniffing around.”

“What about the new guy?” Patrick spoke up, looking at Javier over his glass of water. “He’s not proved himself yet. Make him do it.”

“With no training whatsoever you’re going to throw the newbie in at the deep end?” Javier snorted. “This is why you’re not in charge around here and Brian is.”

Brian rolled his eyes slightly. “Back to the point at hand: are we agreed that Javier will continue overseeing the interrogation of Hanyu?”

“Nope,” Patrick popped the p at the end of it. “Nope. I don’t agree.”

“The majority agrees.” Kaetlyn pointed out.

Brian sighed. “If he has nothing by tomorrow, you get a change with Hanyu, okay?”

Javier sat up straighter. “Brian that’s—”

“A pretty good idea actually.” Scott cut him off. “I agree.”

“Me too.”

“Same.”

“I do.”

“I agree.”

“So that matter is settled then.” Brian said with a nod, ignoring the silent war across the table between Javier and Patrick. “Next thing to discuss: Keegan, how are the shipments going?”

“Good,” Keegan nodded to himself as he slid a report across the table. “Very good.”

As Brian nodded, Javier stood up from the table and left with everyone’s eyes following him.

* * *

 

“So you’re Jason Brown.” Javier looked up at him from across the desk.

“Yes. I’m Jason Brown.”

“From the United States of America. Twenty-four years old. Why are you taking care of a teenager from South Korea?”

“He… Well… It’s a long story.”

“Is he your slut or something?”

“What?” Jason shook his head at Javier, thoroughly disgusted with the idea. “No! God no! He’s like a little brother to me!”

“Then why are you taking care of him? He’s not related to you, clearly, and I don’t see why you’d feel the need to take him under your wing.”

“Because,” Jason cut in, “because I promised to help him achieve his dreams. We met a few years ago and his mother agreed to let him move to Canada to study and open a café here when he’s older. He wants to create somewhere happy.” The American smiled as he traced circles on the wood of the desk with his fingers. “He just wants everyone to be happy.”

“Cute,” Javier drummed his fingers on the table, “so you two decided to work here to get money for your café and then that shit happened the other day, and that’s how we ended up in this situation. Correct?”

“Correct.”

“Alright Jason,” Javier leaned his elbows on the desk. “This is how it’s going to work. You’re going to be trained by Brian on how things work around here. You’ll learn how to deal with our business, to put it mildly. And then you’ll be expected to do more around here, clear?”

“Clear,” Jason nodded. “Crystal clear.”

“Good. Oh, and I shouldn’t have to tell you this but I will anyway: if you cause any problems, which I highly doubt you will because you seem like a nice kid but I have to say this anyway, if you cause any problems I will have to decorate the walls and floor with you and the kid.”

Jason blinked at him for a moment before Javier’s words settled in and his stomach turned. He covered his mouth firmly to stop himself vomiting as he slowly nodded.

“Great. Meet Brian bright and early tomorrow morning here. The kid can work. You can get to know the ropes.”

Jason left the office with shaky legs before he met Jun outside. He swept the teenager up into a hug, rubbing his back, before they walked back towards their shared apartment together in a fearful silence.

* * *

 

“We need Hanyu back.”

“How will we get him back? He’s always planning something himself to escape. Remember last time when he got out and called us to say he needed a ship back when he was at one of the ports?”

“Yes I remember. But I’m not chancing it this time, and neither is Fernandez or Orser. We need to think and then get Hanyu back before they actually learn how to interrogate him.”

“Hanyu is strong.”

“Everyone, everything has a weak point.” The man speaking held up a glittering gem, admiring it. “You find the tiny weakness, the pressure point, anything, and,” he slammed it down hard on his desk, shattering little fragments across the floor, “you use that to make a crack, and then you make them shatter completely. Hanyu has weak points too. Even a flawless diamond has a weakness. So we need him back over here so I can torture him instead for getting caught. Send out a squad to get him back, and take out Fernandez if you have the chance.”

“As you wish, Takahashi-san.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The knife hit the wall next to the target and clattered to the floor noisily. Jason and Brian both watched it fall before they looked at each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again everyone. Here's another chapter of whatever this is. Please remember the warnings; there's a gun fight in this chapter and mentions of what happens to Yuzuru (it's not nice!) Please please be aware before you read it xx
> 
> I haven't forgotten about my two other WIPs, so don't worry. They will be updated soon when I'm more motivated to write them, but I haven't given up on them. Please enjoy this chapter xx

The knife hit the wall next to the target and clattered to the floor noisily. Jason and Brian both watched it fall before they looked at each other.

“Try again. Keep calm when you throw it. And try not to snap your wrist too much. I know it feels natural, but it’s hard to get a consistent technique when you throw something like wrist snapping in, which is inconsistent in its nature.” Brian adjusted his grip a little. “You’re not throwing the knife. You’re not letting go of the knife. Your hand is sliding off the knife instead as you follow through.”

Jason nodded, picking up another from the table. He raised it to throw when Brian placed a hand on his arm.

“Don’t. Get the weight of it first. With time you’ll know how to throw any weight of knife to hit your target but, for now, think about this knife. How does it compare to the last one?”

“It’s a little heavier.”

“Hold it closer to the blade then. Anything else?”

“It’s a little bit longer.”

Brian nodded, stepping back from Jason. “Imagine hitting the target perfectly on. Imagine the best throw you can. Focus on that image and that perfection. See in your mind exactly what you want to see when you throw the knife at the target. Now throw it.”

Jason didn’t hit the target dead on the centre, but it wasn’t too far off. Brian raised an eyebrow at him, smiling as he patted his arm.

“Not bad Jason. Not bad at all. Come on. We’ll move onto shooting with a handgun next and come back to the knives another time. Slow progress in everything is better than too fast progress in one particular thing. A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.”

* * *

 

“See you again soon!” Jun smiled as the group of ladies in their early twenties passed by him in the restaurant, clearly out for a “girls’ night out” for drinks and dinner; one of them handed him a thick wad of Canadian notes as an extra tip as they left. His smile dimmed as the bell above the door stopped ringing; the Canadian bills in his hand felt like dirty money covered in blood and produced through lies, deceit, murder, and prostitution. He stuffed it into the pocket of his work jeans, out of sight out of mind, before he shook himself out of his head, putting the drinks for table three onto his tray on the bar.

“Excuse me,” Jun looked up to see two men in suits lingering in the doorway, waiting for a table, “A table for two.” One of them spoke in a heavily accented voice, and Jun smiled his practiced work smile at them.

“Of course, sirs, just give me a moment and I’ll be right with you.”

One of them pushed the wine glass off Jun’s tray, slowly and deliberately as he maintained eye contact with Jun as he did it. The teen caught the glass just before it shattered, but the red liquid stained the carpet next to him. He looked up at the other, confusion and unasked questions clear in his eyes.

“A table for two. Now. We’re not patient men.”

Jun put the tray down; his hands were shaking so much he didn’t trust himself not to drop the whole thing over a customer. He then picked up two menus and led the pair over to a table tucked in one of the corners of the restaurant.

“I-I’ll be over in a minute to see what you guys would like,” he did his best to keep his voice as level as he could, but it betrayed him with a stutter. Hiding his face from them, he went back over to the counter to sort out the drinks for table three again.

“Keiji. What are you even playing at? He’s just a kid. I’m sure he’s piss scared of you now.”

“We have a job to do, Shoma.” The other hissed back as the pair conversed together in Japanese. “Don’t be too soft hearted for this. We have to get Hanyu back.”

“Keiji. His name is Yuzuru.”

“We have to get Yuzuru back then.”

“Can I help you two?” They both looked up to see Jun holding his notebook. “I’m sorry for the delay. It’s just me serving tonight so it’s kind of chaos at the moment in the kitchens and out here. A-anyway, um, what… What can I get for you? Drinks first?”

Keiji frowned at the menu. “You can tell us this: where is your manager?”

Jun blinked at him for a second before he looked between the pair. “M-My manager? Have I done something wrong?”

“You ask too many questions.” Keiji said coldly. “Manager.”

Jun blinked before he nodded, tripping over himself as he ran into the backroom. Kaetlyn looked up at him, tilting her head in confusion.

“Jun? What’s up? I know it’s rough out there tonight without anyone to help you serve, but please try and bear it. Unless something’s happened? Oh my God, I told those guys to never show their faces in here again after the stunt they pulled towards—”

“It’s not that. Two guys want to see the manager.”

Kaetlyn’s eyebrows shot up into her hairline before she nodded slowly. “I’ll… Uh… yeah, I’ll call Javier up for you. Which table number?”

“Eight.”

“Alright.” She patted his arm lightly, getting out her phone. “Don’t you worry about this Jun. I’ll get Javi to sort it out for you.”

Jun left the backroom and groaned at the sight of the queue out of the door. With a forced smile, he seated everyone and then flitted around taking orders and serving tables. He kept an eye on the pair of men in the corner; they never ordered anything other than Jun’s manager and a jug of water between the two of them. Even as the night drew on and Javier didn’t make an appearance, they never moved other than to call Jun over for more water periodically. As the restaurant approached closing time, and Jun felt dead on his feet, Javier still hadn’t appeared. The teenager thanked another table of patrons and was handed a hefty tip before he was called over by the pair of suited men again. Jun groaned internally before he headed over, notebook out.

“Is everything alright Sirs? Can I get you anything?”

“Where is your manager?”

“H-he… Um… I-I don’t know sirs.”

“Why don’t you chase him up then?”

Jun bowed his head and rushed to the backroom, notebook still held firmly in his hands. Kaetlyn looked up again before she sighed, picking up her phone again.

“Let me call him for you again. He said he would be up soon. You… I’m sorry Jun but we can’t leave the front of the shop unattended for long. Please…?”

“Okay,” he mumbled, heading back out into the main shop area again with his head lowered. “I’m going back out.”

The two men were the only other people in the restaurant, and Jun did his best to avoid looking at them. He cleaned the other tables, restocked the fridge with the drinks, sorted the tips he’d been given before he shoved all the money into a separate wallet to his normal one, cleaned up the counter, and even poured himself a glass of lemonade just so that he’d have something to do while he waited for Javier. He brought another jug of water over to the two guys and set out a tray of bread and butter for them while they waited but, with every movement of his, he felt their eyes following him regardless.

“Don’t worry Jun,” he mumbled to himself, fiddling with his second wallet labelled “Café <3” to try and avoid looking at the others in the restaurant. “You’ll achieve this soon. Soon.”

* * *

 

“What do you know about them?” Javier hissed, pulling Yuzuru’s head back by his hair.

Yuzuru coughed and spluttered, blood running down the side of his face from the cuts on his cheek, his split lip, and his nose that Javier was pretty sure was broken again. It was a regular affair for both of them; they got to spend time together but one would have to walk away with something broken. This time, it was Yuzuru’s turn.

The two guards with Javier meant that they had to put on a good show.

“I asked you a fucking question,” Javier spat, tugging Yuzuru’s head back further, bending it almost painfully back over the chair. “What do you know about them?”

Yuzuru spat onto Javier’s cheek, the mix of saliva and blood dripping from his cheekbones onto his crisp, white shirt.

“Wouldn’t you like to fucking know.”

Yuzuru slumped forwards as one of the guards struck him in the back of the head, coughing up yet more blood onto his own lap and already soiled shirt. Javier wiped his cheek off, smearing the mess into Yuzuru’s hair as his phone started ringing again. Javier answered it, glaring daggers at Yuzuru the whole time before he hung up.

"I’m needed upstairs. Two guys are apparently giving the new kid some trouble.” He jerked his head back at Yuzuru, looking directly at the guards. “Don't give him any food tonight." Javier hissed. "We'll see how long it takes before he decides to stop playing fucking games with us."

With one last look back at Yuzuru's slumped over form, still coughing and spluttering, Javier smoothed out his shirt and headed upstairs.

"Oh thank God Javier. Jun's been out there with those two guys for hours. Hours! They were asking for you and he could do nothing about it because you were down there and he was stuck up here on his own," Kaetlyn babbled, shoving Javier out into the restaurant. "Go!"

He smoothed down his slightly bloody shirt and adjusted his hair before he approached the table with the two men at it. Jun lingered in the background, holding his notebook ready to take any orders they had other than the manager it took hours to find. Javier shot him a small smile before he pulled one of the chairs up to their table.

"I believe you ordered the manager?"

The two Japanese guys exchanged a look before they stood up. One offered Javier his hand to shake and neither smiled.

"Are you the manager?"

"Depends who's asking."

"Someone with a business proposition."

"Oh?"

"We believe you have something of ours. And we'd quite like it back."

"It's not for sale."

"Oh really?"

"Yes really."

"And why not?"

"The information we have access to with it--"

"You have access to no information with it. Don't bluff. We know you've got nothing out of him."

"Maybe not yet. But we're wearing him down."

"I feel we've had this conversation before."

Javier's eyes narrowed but he didn't bother giving Keiji a response. Shoma stood up, shaking his head.

"I need to use the bathroom." He mumbled to Keiji in Japanese. Javier watched Shoma go with a frown.

"He's using the bathroom." Keiji translated. He slid a briefcase across the table to Javier. "From our boss."

Javier opened it and raised an eyebrow at the stacks and stacks of yen in there. He shut the case and slid it back across the table to Keiji.

"No thank you. Tell him I said hello."

"You're making a mistake."

"I'd be making a bigger one by accepting."

"Is it not enough?"

"Comparing that to the priceless information I can get from your guy, it won't be nearly enough."

"You're very confident that you can get anything from him."

"I know I can."

"Really."

"And I like seeing your boss squirm like a fish."

Keiji glared at him for a moment before he picked up the briefcase. "You've made a big mistake anyway."

Javier studied him, frown deepening before his eyes widened in panic. As he reached to draw his gun, he shouted to the teen lingering in the background of the restaurant. "Jun! Backroom! Now!"

The teenager looked up from where he'd been reading a book and drawing in the condensation on the side of his glass of lemonade to stare at Javier. At the cold glare his manager gave him, Jun ran into the backroom, upsetting the glass. It shattered on the carpet and sticky lemonade added to the stain of the wine from earlier as all hell broke loose in the empty restaurant.

* * *

 

"Fernandez is being too soft to you." One of the guards hissed to Yuzuru as the Japanese man was removed from the chair and chained against the wall again. He didn't even bother to struggle, not in the situation he was stuck in with a very slim chance of escaping. "If I was in charge of your interrogation, you'd be strung upside down and whipped."

"Maybe you're too much of a dick."

The guard smacked his head back hard into the wall, and Yuzuru groaned as stars swam across his vision. "Fernandez hasn't gotten any results yet. Just you wait until later. Chan is getting to take a turn with you, and he isn't half as nice as Fernandez is." The guard smirked and slapped Yuzuru hard across the face before he checked all the chains again. "Sweet dreams, you filthy Jap."

Yuzuru's head and body slumped as far forwards as the chains allowed due to exhaustion.

* * *

 

Shoma slipped out of the bathroom down a passageway he saw a guard coming out of. The gunfire from the restaurant resonated throughout the rest of the building and Shoma prayed that he wouldn't get caught going down the stairs. He didn't know nearly enough English to talk his way out of it. The Japanese man slipped down the familiar corridors, towards the cells that had housed him during his rounds of torture after being caught; they all too often housed Yuzuru. Shoma had only been caught twice. Yuzuru had been caught many more times than that. Shoma held his gun up, ready in case he had to act fast, when he turned a corner, slamming straight into someone's chest.

Strong arms caught him and held him upright, stopping him from tumbling over, and Shoma slowly looked up the torso to see something that made his legs turn to jelly. The man before him was beautiful. He had sparkling eyes, even in the low light of the corridor, and his smile made Shoma weak to the knees.

"Are you alright?" the other asked, helping him to stand. "There's a shooting upstairs, so you might want to stay down here for a bit. I wouldn't go up there unless you want to get filled with bullets."

"I-I... I'm okay," Shoma mumbled in his best English. "Um... Thank you."

The other smiled and offered him a hand shyly. "I'm Jason."

"Shoma."

Jason took hold of his hand and led him down the corridor. "Come on. I know somewhere safe we can sit this shootout out together."

Shoma broke rule one that Daisuke had told him: Never trust a pretty face. And yet, he couldn't bring himself to regret the decision as he was wrapped up in a blanket next to Jason and given small sushi bites with fish and meats inside the rice balls. The gunfire and shrieks above their heads didn't matter; the only things in the world that mattered to them both then were each other.

* * *

 

Javier cursed under his breath as he used the corner into the kitchen as a shield. Conrad and Joseph had pulled Jun and Brian into the backroom with them before they slammed the door shut and all but barricaded themselves in. Scott, Patrick, Kaetlyn, Tessa, Nam, and Keegan had all come out to help him, and Gabrielle was in one of the offices on her laptop, talking strategy to all of them through their earpieces.

"Javier, there's two coming behind you. Scott, you're nearest. Take them out if you can."

"Got it Gabby. Thanks."

The group worked like a well-oiled machine, with the field agents avoiding being killed with the help of Gabrielle's intelligence data. She searched through the camera information when a pair of hands covered her eyes, her headset was removed, and her microphone turned off.

"Guess who."

She turned and hugged Keiji tightly, kissing him on the cheek. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too," he kissed her properly, holding her close. "I missed you more than anything. The reason I agreed to do this job was because I thought there might be a chance I could see you, or at least hear your voice again."

"I'm here," she whispered, running her hands through his hair as he cupped her cheeks, looking into her warm brown eyes. "I'm here, Keiji, and I don't ever intend to let you go."

"Me neither." He promised, sitting down with her in a hug. "I can't stay too long though. I don't know how long this distraction will last, and I don't even know if Shoma will be able to get Yuzuru out."

"I doubt it." Gabrielle chewed her lip. "Javi has the only key."

"Daisuke won't be happy."

"You said he was never happy."

"He'll be even less happy."

"Let's not talk about that now," She shushed him, placing a finger to his lips. "I haven't seen you for months. I want cuddles."

"That," he smiled, "I can do for you."

 "Gabby's microphone isn't working," Javier hissed to Kaetlyn next to him, and she cursed under her breath, the hail of bullets muffling her reply to him. Javier focused on the task at hand: taking out as many people as possible.

One of the Japanese task members shot the light bulb and the room was plunged into darkness with the gunfire still relentless.

* * *

 

When the shooting on both sides finally stopped, due to a lack of bullets, the Japanese members fled the scene as soon as they could. The others panted in the destroyed restaurant, debris once again everywhere. Patrick and Javier exchanged a look.

"We should get the kid--"

"Leave him out of this." Kaetlyn cut in. "He's had a rough shift. Don't get him to clean up this crap."

"We need everyone we can," Javier reasoned, "I'll give him extra pay but we need to get this place kind of back in order ready for tomorrow. At least they didn't shatter the windows or the mirrors this time."

"More by good luck than good management." Patrick hissed.

"Go and get the teenagers. They can do this much; it's not dangerous. I'll find Jason and see if Gabby is okay."

Javier and Patrick parted, and the Spaniard headed up to the control room where Gabby was based. He knocked on the door and she opened it, frowning. "I'm so sorry Javi. I spilt water onto the microphone and--"

"It's fine. No one's hurt. But we do need your help clearing everything up. And have you seen Jason? New guy, American, twenty-four?"

Gabrielle frowned before she typed away at her keyboard. "Um... Oh, there he is! He's on the corridor of the interrogation rooms.

"Oh yeah, I asked him to make sure no one had taken Hanyu food." Javier nodded with a grim expression. "Thanks Gabby. I'll go and get him. If you could help fix up downstairs--"

"I will." She nodded to him, waving him out of the control room. "I'll just lock the computer software. Don't want anyone hacking it while I'm not here." Javier nodded, leaving the room, and she breathed a sigh of relief, rolling back her chair to let Keiji out from where he'd hidden himself under her desk.

"You should go." She whispered breathlessly against his lips.

"When will I see you again?"

"Soon, I promise. Now go before they catch you."

* * *

 

"Thank you for looking after me Jason," Shoma mumbled in Japanese, half curled up next to him. "I've been in this business too long and I still don't really like gun fights."

"I can imagine. They seem a bit... Manic."

"They are. People die who you didn't mean to kill but they got in the way and you had to act because otherwise you'd be tied upside down in the boss' basement for a week as punishment for letting the target get away."

Jason hugged him close, rubbing his back. "That sounds... horrendous Shoma."

"It's life now." He shrugged. "I'm sorry if that's how this all becomes for you too. You seem like you're in this life but you don't know it as well."

"Yeah, I... My friend and I joined this business as a restaurant. We didn't intend to join this side of it, and now it's too late for us to get out of it."

"Well, that suit looks very good on you," Shoma half chuckled to himself. "But you seem much too kind for this life. I wish there was a way out of it for you. I-I…I should get going. Keiji will be wondering where I am, especially when I leave without Yuzuru."

Jason's eyes softened and he patted Shoma's arm lightly. "Sorry. I don't have anyone or anything I can give you instead to try and placate your boss."

"It's alright," Shoma's eyes flicked to Jason's lips, "but I know something you can give me personally instead."

Jason's hands went to Shoma's waist as the shorter male tugged him down, kissing him firmly and passionately. Jason's eyes fluttered closed and Shoma ran his hands through Jason's curls, smiling against his lips into the kiss. When they finally had to break apart for oxygen, Shoma smiled to him before he typed something into Jason's phone and then slipped from the room, vanishing. Jason touched his lip lightly, sighing when Javier came into the room.

"Jason! We need you to help clean up upstairs. Jun's fine before you ask. He's just helping clean up. You know the rules: you can keep watches and wallets. Just give me the weapons."

* * *

 

"Yuzuru," the Japanese man raised his head to the door, cracking open his eyes to see Javier carrying a small box of sushi rolls in his hands. The Spaniard closed the door to the cell behind him and opened up the box, offering one to the Japanese man.

"I thought you said no food?"

"That's for show," Javier held the roll out to the other who ate it like a starving man. "This... I'm so sorry for everything--"

"I've already forgiven you." Yuzuru said softly, taking the next roll. "You don't have to apologise."

"I feel like I do though." Javier admitted. "I... I see you getting hurt and... And I just wish that it didn't have to be this way."

"Just... try not to think about it." Yuzuru mumbled. "All of this will heal."

"Your nose?"

"Surgery will heal it."

"Y-Yuzu," Javier swallowed thickly as the other ate the last sushi roll, "I... I have something to confess."

"Yes?"

"Tomorrow a different guy is going to torture you. He's... how should I phrase it? Shorter tempered than I am. He doesn't like to play the games that you and I play all the time. I-I'm sorry... I-I tried to stop this but—"

"Not your fault. Don't apologise." Yuzuru said firmly, leaning forwards. Javier caught him in a soft kiss.

"I love you, and I’ll do what I can to make sure you’re alright" Javier mumbled.

"I love you too." Yuzuru mumbled into Javier’s shoulder as the other kissed his cheek, rubbing his back.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuzuru choked on his own blood, coughing it up onto his lap before his head was pulled back again; it was becoming a routine for him: choking on his own blood so that he couldn’t talk properly as his shirt and suit were both ruined beyond repair. The rest of the blood ran down his chin and neck, staining the collar of his shirt and the top of his once pale blue tie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The triggers really do apply in this chapter, and things become worse from here on. There's more of an insight into Daisuke's actions but not much. Please please please be aware that this chapter mentions nastier stuff happening to Yuzuru than happened before. Feel free to research it if you want to, but I'm not ready to write that sort of thing explicitly.  
> Thank you for reading this xx

Yuzuru choked on his own blood, coughing it up onto his lap before his head was pulled back again; it was becoming a routine for him: choking on his own blood so that he couldn’t talk properly as his shirt and suit were both ruined beyond repair. The rest of the blood ran down his chin and neck, staining the collar of his shirt and the top of his once pale blue tie. Patrick glared at him.

“Ready to confess what you know?”

“Never,” Yuzuru coughed out, more blood running down his face. Even in his messed-up state, Yuzuru still held himself with a grace and poise that made the other’s blood boil. Patrick slammed the back of his head hard against the wall, enjoying the groan of pain from Yuzuru.

“I guess that means we get to move onto something a little more fun for me then. Slamming you against a wall is so very Javier. It’s not really my style.”

Yuzuru remained silent but maintained his eye contact with the other, making Patrick even angrier. The Canadian slammed his head against the wall again, holding Yuzuru’s hair.

“Aren’t you even going to ask what my style is, Jap?”

“I figured I’d find out in due course.” Yuzuru replied with a level voice, eye contact still unwavering. “So, the way I see it, there’s no point in talking to you unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“You filthy fucking--…” Patrick cut himself off to calm down for a second. Yuzuru’s little smirk of triumph didn’t go unnoticed. “It might be a little bit boring for you, but it’s worked on pretty much everyone I’ve tried it on.”

“You going to try and fuck the answers out of me?” Yuzuru snorted. “Because I assure you, nothing is worse than the shit my boss has put me through.”

“I wouldn’t fuck you even if they paid me. Don’t hold yourself so high. But, if you’re into this shit, I’m sure I can find someone to fuck the answers out of you if I try hard enough.”

“No thank you.” Yuzuru said with a polite smile, blood still dripping from his mouth. “I can perfectly well get someone to fuck me without your help thanks.”

“God, your arrogance is enough to make anyone want to shoot you.” Patrick hissed as Yuzuru was freed from the chair only to have his wrists chained behind him.

The Japanese man stumbled as he was dragged from the room he’d been held in for he didn’t know how long. The guards forced him along the corridor, not caring to slow down as he stumbled along on shaky legs. Patrick glanced back and his face darkened like thunder as Yuzuru somehow managed to maintain his composure. Dragged through hell, dragged through the corridor, covered in blood and dirt, stuck in an ill-fitting suit, deprived of food and water, and kept in complete isolation except for the occasional visitor who did nothing but attack him, Yuzuru still held himself with the grace and poise of an angel or a king. Patrick clenched his fists and walked faster; the guards matched his pace but Yuzuru couldn’t keep up. Every time he tripped, Patrick’s smirk grew. He unlocked the new room and stepped back to let the guards shove the Japanese man in.

Yuzuru blinked at the sterile white room, frowning in confusion as he was shoved in further. He struggled against the guards, but Patrick just laughed; days without proper nutrition did wonders to prisoners’ strength. Yuzuru was shoved down onto a metal rack on his back before his wrists were chained to one end and his ankles to the other. Patrick circled the rack with a frown at Yuzuru before he waved a hand idly at the Japanese man.

“Take off his shirt.”

“So you are trying to get me naked and fuck me. You know, I’m not really into bondage. I like to see my partner’s faces when I make them scream my name in ecstasy. And we’d need to discuss safe words anyway before we—”

“Shut the fuck up.” Patrick cut him off with a slap to the face as the guards moved in.

They tugged off his jacket, shirt, and tie, throwing them into the corner of the room, and uncuffed his wrists long enough to get them off before they secured them again. Yuzuru was allowed to keep his trousers on, the guards removed his shoes and socks, and he met Patrick’s glare with his own. Patrick circled the frame again, like a predator about to play with its meal before it struck properly. The Canadian smirked and cupped Yuzuru’s chin, mindful of the dried blood on it.

“You know, you’re quite pretty when you’re not being such an uptight, arrogant bitch. I’m surprised your boss didn’t sell you instead of letting you into field work. I guess they’d have to gag you first though; no one wants to fuck a smart mouth. Unless they’re teaching them a lesson of course. Then it’s so fun to bend them over a table and put them in their place. I’m sure your boss has considered doing it to you. Or maybe he has. Did you used to be his little slut before he got sick of your talking and sent you out into the field to die?”

Yuzuru bit Patrick’s thumb as it trailed over his chapped lips, earning a mouthful of blood that wasn’t his own for once and another slap across the face. He smirked, despite the stinging in his cheek and the coppery taste in his mouth. The other pulled his head up, eyes like fire as they burnt into Yuzuru’s. The Japanese man didn’t break eye contact with him as he spat out the mouthful of blood onto Patrick’s cheek.

Patrick didn’t respond to Yuzuru verbally. He wiped the blood and saliva off his face and onto Yuzuru’s own cheek. He turned away and started sorting the instruments on the table, cleaning his hands before he pulled on some surgical style latex gloves. He picked up a tray and set it down on the table next to the frame Yuzuru was chained to.

“You know, I was going to go easy on you. Break you in gently and all that,” Patrick rubbed _something_ on the gloves before he smeared the cold liquid on Yuzuru’s chest, earning a flinch from the Japanese man before he schooled his features. “But after the stunt you pulled, spitting on me, I think we’ll just jump in at the deep end. Still, I could be so much meaner to you.” He gestured to Yuzuru’s still clothed lower half. “I’ll go to that if necessary, of course, but I’d rather we tried to do this the easy way first.”

Before Yuzuru could ask anything, a cloth was shoved into his mouth and tied behind his head behind the frame. Another, a blindfold this time, was tied over his eyes to keep him completely in the dark.

“You smell not too bad for someone who’s been sitting in his own blood for a while,” Patrick mused, voice further away from Yuzuru’s head than it was before. “I guess that peppermint oil I poured on you helps. Now, I’m going to explain to you what I’m about to do to you. It’s fitting, I think, that it’s the Spanish man here who had you first given that this is named after a Spanish grill. This method is called a parrilla and it was used in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, lots of places in South America. Basically, Jap, I’m going to subject you to shocks until you confess.”

The silence was painful, and Yuzuru’s eyes widened in pure, unfiltered fear behind the blindfold. Patrick fiddled with a control box at the end of the frame before he prepared two electrodes.

“Sure you haven’t got anything to tell me before I start this?”

Yuzuru shook his head and Patrick shrugged.

“Suit yourself then.”

The screams, even muffled by the cloth, echoed along the corridor and up the stairs, into the backroom where Jun was sorting stock out for the restaurant. He glanced in the direction of the stairs and bolted out of the room, getting to a bathroom before he threw up everything he had in him.

* * *

 

“What the fuck do you mean you failed to get him?”

“We tried. They—”

“Don’t give me your fucking excuses Tanaka. You two failed to get him, and a load of our guys got shot creating a distraction.”

“They were better prepared this time.” Shoma mumbled, earning a slap across the face too.

“So? You should have been prepared too. We wasted time and resources on a shootout that led to nothing. You two are useless. The juniors could do it better than you two.”

The boss paced in front of the pair, glaring at both of them as they faced him silently. “As punishment for your mistakes this time around, you need to get not only Hanyu back, but also Fernandez as collateral. Fail me again and I’ll let someone else sort you out. I need to sort Hanyu out for letting himself get caught. I’ll be sending you information for the attack soon. In the meantime, work hard and make sure those drug shipments are brought into the right place.”

Both Keiji and Shoma bowed before they were all but shoved out of the room by the guards. The double oak doors slammed shut behind the pair and they exchanged a look, heading down the corridor in an uncomfortable silence.

They’d got back from Canada and were instantly hauled into their boss’s office for a lecture. Shoma counted himself internally lucky that Daisuke had only told them off and given them a slap. The pair parted once they got their apartment block with a nod to each other as they headed into their respective apartments. Shoma peeled off his jacket and threw it in the general direction of his laundry basket before the shirt and trousers followed. Changing into a comfortable hoodie and pair of sweatpants, Shoma flopped face first onto his bed.

“You’re home early.”

Shoma looked up from his pillow, smiling at the sight of his little brother lingering in the doorway with a spoon in his mouth and a tub of ice cream in his hand. The younger pointed the spoon at Shoma. “If you’re hungry, I made too much ramen for dinner. I was going to finish it tomorrow for lunch, but you can have some now if you’re hungry.”

“I’m good.” Shoma rolled onto his back before he sat up. “Not hungry.”

“Yeah, how much have you eaten in the past twenty-four hours?”

Shoma rolled his eyes. “Itsuki—”

“Don’t you “Itsuki” me! You’re the one always going on about eating properly Mister “I won’t touch a vegetable or anything disgusting.” So you need to eat properly too.”

“Says the one eating ice cream straight out of the tub.”

“I’m seventeen I’m allowed to!”

“I’m twenty-one! I’m an adult! I can eat what I want.”

Itsuki rolled his eyes at his older brother, chuckling a little and shaking his head. “You’re such a child Shoma!”

“Shut up!”

Itsuki sat down next to him on the bed, cuddling up to his side. Shoma instinctively wrapped his arm around his younger brother, holding him in a hug. The younger buried his face in the other’s shoulder, hugging him back carefully to avoid pouring half melted ice cream down his back.

“Itsuki?” Shoma asked. “What’s wrong?”

“I-I… I was so worried about you… I-I… I panicked… I-I couldn’t help but think about what would happen if you got killed in Canada. O-or… Or if they caught you again? A-and then… A-and then I was… What if Daisuke hurt you f-for something, a-and—”

“Hey,” Shoma leaned back to look at his little brother, heart breaking at the tear streaks decorating the younger’s face. “I’m okay, see? I’ll always come back for you Ituski. So don’t you worry about me. You worry about hockey and school and that cute girl in your class, and I’ll worry about Daisuke and Canada.”

Itsuki’s ears burnt slightly but he nodded, half smiling up at his brother. “You know, she isn’t that cute—”

“My baby brother has a crush on a girl,” Shoma teased, messing up Itsuki’s hair, “so don’t you dare try and take this away from me. I don’t care if she isn’t cute; you have a crush on someone so I get to tease you.”

Itsuki rolled his eyes and went back to his ice cream, enjoying being in Shoma’s arms.

* * *

 

“How did he react?” Gabby asked. Keiji shrugged, leaning on his arm. “On a scale of badly to threw a chair at you, how did he react?”

“Badly. It wasn’t the worst he’s ever reacted to us messing up. I just feel bad for Yuzuru. When he gets back from whatever they’re putting him through, he’ll be put through hell and back by Daisuke.”

Gabby grimaced and Daisuke raised an eyebrow at her. “Gabby? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know what they’re putting him through, but it’s a different guy doing it to normally. Today was the first day any of us properly heard him scream.”

Keiji went white. “He what?” He asked weakly.

“It… Christ, I don’t know what was going on downstairs because I asked Brian to never be involved with it, but you could hear it from downstairs up into the backroom. One of the newest guys was sick. I don’t think he realised what he was getting involved with when he agreed to work at the restaurant.”

Keiji nodded, blowing her a kiss through his laptop screen. “Are you okay?”

“Me? Yeah, I’m fine. And you?”

“Missing you.”

“You’re so cheesy.”

“You love it, don’t lie.”

She half smiled at him and he counted that as a win. He blew her another kiss before they said their goodbyes and ended their secure Skype call.

* * *

 

Yuzuru had, at the hands of Daisuke, experienced as many types of torture as he could name to “mentally prepare him” in case he was ever caught by other interrogators. When he was being physically abused or mentally tormented, he could retreat back into the memories of Daisuke doing it instead, telling him how to get through the anguish.

_“You’ll be stronger in the end Yuzuru.” Daisuke hissed, kicking the fifteen-year-old curled in on himself lying on the floor just in front of his desk, coughing and spluttering. “You’ll be able to survive whatever they throw at you, and you’ll never reveal information to them.”_

Daisuke had never done this to him.

Yuzuru’s body ached all over and his muscles screamed when he tried to move around on the metal frame. Patrick had been relentless, randomly touching the electrodes to his torso, neck and head for what felt like days to Yuzuru. Eventually the pain stopped and the door slammed, leaving Yuzuru still attached to the frame with the blindfold and gag still on him. He took the brief respite to calm himself down, wincing at every tiny little movement. Breathing hurt, and he prayed that he wouldn’t get an asthma attack. He dared to open his eyes, blinking into the darkness behind the blindfold, before he gave up and relaxed as much as he could. His shoulders and hips ached from the position his arms and legs had been held in.

The door opened and Yuzuru flinched away from whoever it was who came in. He heard it lock before the blindfold was taken off, tenderly. Yuzuru blinked, adjusting to the bright, sterile room again. The same gentle hands removed the gag and unchained his wrists from the frame, allowing him to sit up. Yuzuru rubbed at his raw wrists, smiling.

Javier was there with a bowl of food.

“Thought you could do with something after all of that.”

Yuzuru just leaned his head on Javier’s shoulder, enjoying the scent of Javier’s cologne and the comforting softness of his shirt against his extra sensitive chest. The Spaniard kissed his forehead, eyes full of unspoken emotions as he held out a spoonful of rice to the other.

“I don’t know how much I can take this,” Yuzuru confessed into Javier’s shoulder as he chewed. “I—”

“It’s okay,” Javier whispered, offering him another spoonful of food. “I believe in you. Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but I believe in you, Yuzuru. I know you’re strong, and I know you can do this.”

Yuzuru half smiled and let his head rest fully against Javier’s shoulder. He didn’t try and fight as the other fed him the rest of the food. Javier then laid him back and stroked his hair gently, kissing his forehead one more time before he retied the blindfold and gag with tears in his own eyes. Yuzuru winced as Javier locked his hands back into the chains, and he heard the door closing and locking once more.

* * *

 

“I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” Jun mumbled into his knees, curled up on the battered old sofa in his and Jason’s shared apartment. On the table, Jason had emptied out their dream pot and counted up the money. “It’ll take us forever to get enough for that café.”

“It’ll work out,” Jason promised him, rubbing his shoulders. “I promise it’ll be alright. Your tips from yesterday and today gave us so much, Jun.  If we have more nights like that—”

“More nights like what Jason? More nights with people with straying hands who only gave me good tips because I was too scared to shake them off? More nights with people shooting the place up?” Jun’s voice cracked and he hid his face in his arms again. “I-I… I want to go home… G-go back to Seoul, b-back to life before—”

“And waste everything you’ve sacrificed?” Jason asked softly, holding him closer. Jun sobbed instead into Jason’s shirt rather than his knees. “You, Jun Hwan Cha, are very kind. You’ve sacrificed so much to try and make a place that everyone can be happy in.”

“I-It’s hard…” Jun mumbled and Jason’s heart broke a little. “You’re too kind to become a murderer. A-and Conrad and Joseph are kind and all but… But I… When I heard those screams from earlier, every instinct told me to go down and help him.”

“Jun—”

“People don’t make those kinds of noises when they’re slapped, Jason. T-they… I don’t know what’s going on here anymore but these people aren’t good people.”

“Jun, you know that the world isn’t black and white—”

“It’s grey. I know. But… But why would you do something that makes someone scream like that?”

“If you think you’re doing it for the greater good.”

Jun leaned against Jason’s chest, shaking his head. “They’re wrong. They’re doing nothing for the greater good.”

“We just need to play the game a little bit longer. Get a bit more money and then we can leave and open our own café, a happy place full of smiles. We just need to work for a little longer.”

Jun wiped at his eyes, nodding as he uncurled himself from Jason’s chest. “’M going to bed.”

“Sleep well,” Jason wished, sighing as he watched the teen retreat into his room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Day four,” Javier raised an eyebrow at Patrick as the Canadian stepped out of Yuzuru’s room, face like thunder, “and still nothing?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again: pleaaaaaaase check the tags. They seriously do apply here! There are some pretty severe threats later on in the chapter, and the violence is in the chapter pretty much from the word go. So pretty pretty please check the tags again.
> 
> So. This chapter is worse than the last two combined in my opinion. This is where the main part of the story for me starts, and a lot for the next chapters is set up here. We're also introduced to a few more people (you might have noticed me adding characters in the tags). I don't know how much more I can say without ruining the chapter, so please try and enjoy it (?) and thank you for reading xx
> 
> Just for clarity: Chon is a derogatory Japanese term for people from Korea. It's (apparently) taken from the word meaning Korea in Japanese

“Day four,” Javier raised an eyebrow at Patrick as the Canadian stepped out of Yuzuru’s room, face like thunder, “and still nothing?”

“It’s not my fault he keeps passing out before he can say anything.”

“Maybe if you fed him, he wouldn’t pass out. Or if you’d stuck to your original plan and only did it to his torso.”

“If I fed him, that would ruin the point of this Javier.” Patrick snapped, temper cracking. “And I warned him that we could do it the easy way or the hard way. He chose the hard way by not confessing.”

“And that’s why you don’t normally do the interrogations. I at least remember that he needs to be alive first and foremost to tell us anything.”

“You’re too soft.” Patrick countered. “He knows how he can get food and end this. He just needs to confess.”

“He won’t.” Javier looked back at the slight agar door, at where Yuzuru was passed out on the metal frame again from exhaustion and the overwhelming pain. “He won’t back down. We need to try something different to break through his exterior.”

“Like what?”

“If I knew that, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.” Javier sighed, pushing off the doorframe with one last look back at Yuzuru. “I’ll call for a meeting. See what the others think about this.”

Patrick nodded, peeling off the latex gloves before he shoved them into the nearest bin. “Fucking hell, this one causes us problems every time. I wish he’d either stop getting caught or just tell us shit.”

Javier nodded, walking with him down the corridor away from Yuzuru’s prison without looking back again. Most of their rooms underneath the restaurant were empty; if they caught anyone else, they would be put in there. They didn’t keep everything in one place; other supplies of theirs were in their buildings scattered around the city, the country, and the world in case someone broke in and took over the restaurant.

Patrick glared at the floor, the walls, and the rest of their surroundings as the pair headed up the stairs to the back room, sliding back the panel hiding the door down to the stairs. Yuzuru was the toughest person any of them had ever dealt with. Javier could normally make someone crack within three hours. Patrick, the last time he’d tried with anyone before Yuzuru, was about the same. Scott, although he didn’t like it, did it in around four. Tessa was the best but she flat out refused to do it anymore after she and Scott started to do more work together in the field. Of course, Brian had helped them all to get to where they were, but he disliked doing it anymore; the group had unanimously agreed to just get Brian to train new people and keep the youngsters out of the main mess.

The pair headed up to the meeting room, giving a nod to the trio of teens serving out on the restaurant floor as they passed through it. Conrad was sweet talking his way to a bigger tip while Jun was cleaning the tables in the corner and Joseph was sorting a tray of drinks for table six.

“We need to do something.” Patrick said, leaning back in his chair with a deep frown. “He hasn’t cracked yet. He hasn’t cracked from Javier, and he hasn’t cracked from me.”

Kaetlyn raised an eyebrow at Patrick. “You’re joking, right? I mean, we all heard the screams. Surely he must have said something.”

“Nope. Nothing. He passed out from exhaustion eight or so times and we didn’t get anything out of him at any point.”

“Christ,” Scott rubbed at his forehead, “What the hell has his boss put him through if he won’t crack under that?”

The group all shifted uncomfortably, avoiding looking at each other for a moment before Brian sighed. “Whichever way we look at it, we need the information he has about his boss and their business deals. I’m sure he knows about them; he’s just too mentally strong for any of our methods to have worked.”

“What about complete sensory deprivation?” Kaetlyn suggested, and Patrick and Javier exchanged a look. “I’m serious. Make the room completely dark. Blindfold him, put noise cancelling ear defenders on him, don’t put anything in the room that he could taste or smell. Let the only thing he can touch be the clothes on him and the chains keeping him down. Deprive him of anything at all stimulating and see how long it is before he cracks under it all.”

“That might work.” Patrick nodded, raising an eyebrow at her. “I tried giving him too much stimulation—”

“Kinky,” Scott cut in, earning a sharp kick from Tessa under the table.

“—so maybe we should try not giving him any. Especially after too much.”

Javier nodded, tapping his pen against the table. “Makes sense. We can set that up tomorrow. Patrick, you can have the rest of the day once he comes to again to have another go.”

Patrick nodded, opening his mouth to agree, when they heard a heart stopping gun shot from downstairs. The group all exchanged a look across the table, frozen, when another one went off.

“The kids,” Brian stood up, rushing to the door, “all the kids are down there.”

Gabrielle ran up to the control room, opening up her laptop and going live on her microphone as the others checked their weapons and ran down into the restaurant. The whole area was in chaos. Normal patrons of the shop were being ushered out by Brian, and the trio of youngsters were pressed against the counter for protection as a guy in a suit was blocking their way into the back room. Javier and Patrick exchanged a look before they parted ways. Patrick helped Brian get people out without being hurt as Javier went over to the trio.

“Are you hurt?”

“We’re okay,” Joseph whispered to him before he glanced over at the guy blocking the doorway who hadn’t noticed them, “but we—”

Javier shot first and the man crumpled. Jun covered his mouth quickly, holding back the urge to vomit as Conrad pulled him to his feet. He couldn’t walk properly; he stumbled over his own feet as the other pulled him into the back room. The Korean teen caught a glimpse of the guy crumpled next to the door, eyes open and a small pool of blood growing underneath his head. Inside the backroom, Conrad rubbed his back gently as he wretched and heaved in the corner.

Back in the main room, the chaos had increased tenfold. Even though most of the normal citizens were out of the restaurant, Javier found himself dodging people and bullets, left and right. One grazed at his ear, just nicking the edge of it. Without even thinking, he spun around and took down the guy who’d attacked him. Javier’s bullet found its mark, and he soon turned his attention onto other matters.

“The cameras have gone down in the kitchens,” Gabrielle’s voice crackled through the groups’ earpieces, “so, if you go in there, I can’t really help—Patrick behind you!”

“I’ve got you covered Pat,” Keegan whispered, distracting the guy aiming at Patrick with a near miss. The other turned his attention on Keegan and a fierce shootout between the pair of them broke out.

“Javi, look out!”

Javier turned and stumbled back at the punch to his face. He heard a sickening crunch and felt his nose go, swearing quietly under his breath as he pulled back his own gun, training it on the Japanese man before him.

“You must really care about Hanyu if you’re willing to throw this many people away on him.”

The other just smirked, his own gun barrel pressed against Javier’s temple. “I guess that won’t be any of your concern soon.”

The left wall of the restaurant collapsed and both guys flinched away from each other. Javier didn’t waste any time dashing away from the crumbling wall, but the other wasn’t as quick. Just before he was hit by a wall of falling debris, Jason shoved him out of the way. They both stared each other down for a second.

“Why did you save me?”

“Because…” Jason searched himself for an answer, “because I… Now is not the time for you to die Shoma.”

Shoma patted his arm with a soft smile. “You’re too kind for this business Jason. I owe you a life debt.”

The Japanese man then disappeared into the chaos, leaving Jason in the confusion alone again. The American’s mind wandered to the teenagers in the backroom with Brian and, praying silently for Jun’s safety, he headed back into the chaos head first.

* * *

 

Javier panted in the middle of the broken restaurant, flecks of blood across his face and suit. Around him, tables had been scattered and thrown across the room, the left wall had crumbled in entirely. The windows were all shattered; the broken glass covering the floor crunched beneath his feet as he walked around.

"Everyone alright?" He called cautiously. "Jason?"

"Here," the American dusted off his own suit, poking out from behind a corner, "is that--"

"Theirs. Not mine. Just theirs."

Jason nodded, meeting Gabrielle by the stairs. He took the broom from her before he turned back to Javier. "Have you seen Kaetlyn? And Tessa and Scott? And the others?"

"Tessa and Scott left at the start of this mess to go and check on the warehouses downtown, luckily. Kaetlyn! Kaetlyn! Where are you?"

"Here! I'm fine Javi!" She shouted from in the kitchens in the back. "Have you seen Patrick?"

"I'm fine!" He shouted back. "Fucking Japs, fucking hell, always fucking causing fucking--"

"Alright, shut up. We get it; you’re not dead." Javier hissed. "Nam? Keegan?"

"We're both fine. Over here. Just... Yeah, we're fine." Keegan replied.

"So there's at least one minor injury. Anyone we're missing?"

"I think Brian and the younger ones," Jason said, "but they were in the back and should be alright."

"Brian! You okay?" Javier shouted, heading over to the backroom.

No response.

"Brian?"

"Javier!" Conrad responded instead, in a panicky voice. "Javier, get here now! We need you!"

Javier and Jason exchanged a look before they wrestled with the door to the backroom of the restaurant. They'd barricaded the youngsters in with Brian to look after them, when they had the chance as the fight got messy, with the order that they shouldn't leave under any circumstances unless it was seriously life or death. Javier prayed that it wasn’t bad. When the pair finally got the door open, the door to the downstairs prisons was open. They exchanged a look of panic before they properly took in the situation.

In the centre of the room, Joseph and Conrad had Brian in the recovery position and were trying to make sure he was still breathing. Conrad’s nose was sitting awkwardly, and blood was still running down his chin and neck. Joseph had a new gash open on his forehead that, luckily, had stopped bleeding but had still left a stain of blood down the left side of his face.

"What happened?" Javier asked, surveying the room.

"They... They got in here... T-they... Brian... We..."

"Conrad," Jason interrupted, "w-where's Jun?"

Conrad avoided Jason's eyes and bit his lip hard, shaking his head.

"W-where is he Conrad? W-where... W-where is Jun..."

"H-he... W-we... T-they..."

"No..." he whispered, "N-no, C-Conrad, he... N-no... H-he can't... P-please tell me this is a cruel joke a-and... a-and he's really just hiding... P-please..." Jason dissolved into tears.

"I-I... I-I can't... H-he... Jason I'm sorry! It's our fault!"

"P-please... Please don't say it..."

"T-they got him, Jason... They... Three... Three came into the room and knocked Brian out." Joseph said, more composed than Conrad. "They headed down to the back room and brought out Hanyu before they…T-they... just came back in, looked at each of us, and knocked him out too with something... A chemical, I think. They covered his nose and mouth with a cloth a-and... and he fought, he really did, but... B-but they took him."

"J-Jun, please... Please forgive us," Conrad mumbled through his sobs as he wiped his eyes.

Jason crumpled, head in his hands. "P-please forgive me..." He mumbled to himself in prayer. "P-please... Please forgive me for failing to take care of your son properly..."

"We have to get him back," Javier spoke up, face set as he patted Jason’s back lightly, "we have to."

* * *

 

Jun stumbled along, being dragged by his elbows with his wrists bound behind his back; the ropes cut into his skin. The bag on his head kept him disorientated after he'd woken up in complete darkness. He’d been knocked out again after he woke up three times but the bag never moved more than to expose his nose and mouth. He’d woken up disorientated for the third time, only this time rough hands pulled him to his feet, and, as he was led left and right, up and down stairs, on carpet and then gravel, it felt like he was being taken through a maze. A door opened and he was shoved forwards, sprawling on the floor onto his stomach; his hands were bound behind his back so he couldn’t even try and break his fall with anything other than his face. The bag was removed and, as his eyes adjusted to the light, a firm hand tugged him to his knees by his hair.

"I thought I said to get Fernandez?" Jun studied the man in front of him, the one who spoke in a language Jun couldn't understand.

"Fernandez was too heavily guarded and he got too many men back."

"And Hanyu fucked up royally," one of the others spat.

"Did you manage to get him?" the one called Hanyu, Jun assumed, cut in sharply. From where Jun could see, he looked like he’d been dragged through hell and back; his shirt was littered in blood stains and he was sporting several bruises and gashes across his nose and cheeks. His nose was at an awkward angle, like Conrad’s had been. The memory of Conrad and Joseph floated back into his mind and Jun bit his lip hard to stop himself crying. "No, I didn't think so."

"Gentlemen," the man in front of Jun interrupted, "stop this petty fighting. And Hanyu, I will deal with you and your incompetence later.” Hanyu flinched at that before he schooled his broken features back to neutral. “The problem now is: what do we do with this one?"

Jun looked up at him with wide eyes and a rough hand grabbed at his chin, moving his face around so that the men could study him. One cupped at his cheek, rubbing over the lingering baby fat and softness with a calloused thumb. Another pulled his hair back, exposing his neck and making him wince, trying to move away from their rough, unrelenting hands.

"He's very cute," one of them said with a smirk, "very cute. You could make a fortune selling him as a slut Daisuke."

Daisuke hummed at that, letting go of Jun's face. "I could. I’m sure someone would pay a fortune for him. I doubt he’s ever taken anything or anyone before. I mean, look at him. Virgins sell for a higher price too." He then swapped to English to speak to Jun. "What do you have to say, Chon? You ever had a girlfriend or a boyfriend? Tell me why I shouldn't decorate the floor with your brains, assuming you have any of course? Why shouldn't I just pimp you out right now? Or bend you over that desk and fuck you myself? You do look very pretty on your knees."

"N-no!" Jun protested when his slightly foggy brain, from the drugs, caught up with him and the situation. "N-no, please, please don’t do this! I-I... I don't know anything! P-please... Please let me go!"

"Let you go?" Daisuke just laughed before he slapped Jun hard across the face, letting him fall face first onto the carpet again. "I'm not letting you go Chon." He waved a hand at his men, and two hauled Jun roughly to his feet as Daisuke swapped back to Japanese. "Set him to work with the fishermen. Make him work... let's say sixteen hours a day. And don't let him slack off. He can be in the prison with the other foreign bastards." He then looked directly at the trembling teenager and spoke in English. "And Chon? If you don't work to my standards, if you don't work hard, if not enough money comes in from that industry, I will sell your virginity to the highest bidder. I will sell you on your knees to make up the money that you're not earning for the fishing industry. Clear Chon?"

Jun just focused on trying not to vomit instead of responding to Daisuke. He went pale at the words and it was only the men holding him up that stopped him collapsing on the spot. The threat had only just sunk in when the bag was pulled back over his head and he was dragged out into the hallway, kicking and screaming until he all but ran out of energy. The guards dragged him like a ragdoll down the hallway, towards their own prison cells.

“As for you, Hanyu, where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

Yuzuru froze as the others around him left the room, shoulders and back tensed as Daisuke approached him slowly and deliberately. The double doors shut, leaving him alone in the room with his boss.

“I told you, didn’t I? If you fail your mission,” he smirked, still looking at the back of Yuzuru’s head, “you get punished for it.”

* * *

 

“Enjoy your time in here,” the guards laughed, releasing Jun’s wrists as well as removing the bag from his head before they shoved him into the cell, locking the door behind him. The teen practically crumpled on the ground once they’d stopped supporting him, body going limp from exhaustion. “Someone will be here bright and early to get you out to your new job. I hope you like staying here. You’ll be fed when they come and get you to work. Sweet dreams, bastard.”

Jun pushed himself onto his knees, coughing through his tears before he curled up in on himself in the centre of the cell, sobbing as waves of exhaustion washed over him. He eventually ran out of energy and lay there, still conscious, but only whimpering occasionally.

“Hey,” he looked over to see a half smiling young man with brown curls that reminded him so much of Javier’s. Brown eyes, similar to the Spaniard’s, met his own as the other guy leaned against the bars separating their cells. “I’m here for you if you need me, okay?”

Jun scooted closer to him, leaning against the bars too as sobs wracked his slim body once again. The other patted his back gently through the bars, holding him as much as he could with the metal separating them.

“Just… Try to sleep, okay? I don’t know what work they’re giving you tomorrow, but it probably won’t be easy. On the bright side, you’ll probably sleep very well most nights because you’ll be so tired, and I’m not very good at being comforting, am I?”

Jun chuckled despite himself, wiping his eyes. “You’re being very kind. Thank you so much for… for trying to make me feel better.”

“It’s okay. I’m Matteo.”

“Jun Hwan Cha. Most of my friends call me Jun though. It’s easier.”

“Oh, I see,” Matteo’s smile dipped a little, “you’re from South Korea, aren’t you?”

“Y-yeah…”

“They might be a little bit meaner to you because of that. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Jun mumbled, hiding his face in his knees again. “Where are you from?”

“Italy.”

“I-I want to go home… Jason will be worried about me.”

“I’m sure he’s working out how he can get you home right now.” Matteo gestured to the metal slate on one side of the cell. “You should go to sleep while you can though.”

“Will you still be here when I get back?” Jun asked, brown eyes full of panic.

“I… I don’t know,” Matteo said honestly, “but I will try and be here for you whenever I can, okay?”

“Okay. Thank you. F-for talking to me and… And being so kind.” Jun mumbled miserably before he stumbled over to the slate and curled up on himself, crying softly until his exhaustion hit him full force and he passed out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Christ Almighty, what the hell did you do to get in Daisuke’s bad books this much?” Keiji looped one arm around Yuzuru’s waist, helping him into his apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm updating this now before I become too busy this evening watching Eurovision to update. So, um, here you are!  
> So many warnings apply here. Like, even from the summary the warnings apply. And more about Daisuke is revealed here, so please be aware of that
> 
> I don't know how much more I can add here other than to say: sorry everyone in the story. The timeline might be a little bit confusing, but I've tried to put the sections roughly in chronological order. Ish. Also: sorry if this isn't medically accurate; I have very limited knowledge of first aid. Please try and enjoy (?) this chapter xx

“Christ Almighty, what the hell did you do to get in Daisuke’s bad books this much?” Keiji looped one arm around Yuzuru’s waist, helping him into his apartment.

Yuzuru could barely walk; his muscles still ached from what Patrick had done to him and, combined with Daisuke’s own form of punishment, his body was ready to give up on him. Keiji sat him down on the sofa and tugged off Yuzuru’s suit jacket and shirt.

“Fucking hell Yuzu.”

“Is it bad?”

“How many times did he…?”

“I lost count,” he confessed, hissing when Keiji touched the gashes on his back with disinfectant. “He said something like one for every hour I was missing, but I can’t remember.”

“And your nose?”

“He was trying to break it back to normal,” Yuzuru wiped some of the blood off his face, hissing again as his back was cleaned.

“God, why do you do this to yourself? You’re smart, Yuzu, I know you are, so why do you get caught so often?”

“I’m trying to get into Fernandez’s head.”

Keiji snorted, changing the cloth before he helped Yuzuru clean off his face. “You’re a mystery no one will ever solve, Yuzuru. But you need to stop getting caught. One of these days, they’ll find a weakness in you exterior and then Daisuke will—”

“I know,” Yuzuru cut him off grimly. “I know what they can do.”

Keiji’s eyebrows furrowed as he pulled out his first aid kit, taking the gauze. “What do you mean?”

“Daisuke’s preparations meant nothing in the end.”

“Yuzuru, stop being so cryptic and tell me what you mean.”

“Tell me, Keiji, has Daisuke ever electrocuted you?”

Keiji nearly dropped the gauze in shock. “Pardon?”

“Has Daisuke ever tied to you a metal frame, rubbed your body in peppermint oil to make it more sensitive, and stuck electrodes to you for God only knows how long until you pass out from it? Because that’s apparently what they can do in Canada now.”

“Y-You… You went through that?”

Yuzuru shrugged before he grimaced at the pain in his muscles.

“Yuzuru, how the hell are you still alive? And how did you not spill anything?”

“Can’t talk if you’re unconscious. One of the guys seemed to forget that.”

Despite himself, Keiji chuckled under his breath as he wrapped up Yuzuru’s back. His fingers fiddled with the waistband of Yuzuru’s suit trousers.

“Did they…?”

“Yes. Daisuke did too.”

“Want me to take a look?”

Yuzuru shook his head, flopping fully on Keiji’s sofa. “I want to sleep forever to be honest with you.”

“Nice try, but he’s going to give all of us some shitty task tomorrow for messing up and getting that kid instead of Fernandez. And he’ll do worse than this,” he gestured to Yuzuru’s messed up back, “if you try and skip out on it. So I suggest you sleep while you can and get ready for tomorrow’s fresh hell. You can sleep here if you want. I’ll grab you something to wear.”

Yuzuru half smiled at him from on the sofa and Keiji binned all the bloodied wipes they’d used. He disappeared into his own room and handed Yuzuru a shirt of his own and some loose sweatpants.

“You might not want to wear the shirt. You don’t have to. Because,” Keiji gestured to his back, wrinkling his nose, “you know.”

“Thank you.”

“Want to talk about it?” Keiji flitted around his kitchen, making Yuzuru some tea and food. The other shook his head; he started eating rather than talking. “You should talk about it, you know. From the sounds of it you went through hell.”

“I already talked about it.”

“In a very clinical way. Not in a “this is how I’m feeling” kind of way.”

“We kill people for a living, sell drugs, act as human traffickers, sell people into lives they don’t want, torture people, and do other shit that’s sending us all eternally to hell.” Yuzuru countered. “We’re not the kind of people who talk about their feelings, Keiji.”

“Yeah, and that’s why we’re even more messed up than we already were.” Keiji settled down next to him. “Seriously, are you alright?”

Yuzuru shrugged, forgetting about his back and muscles until he winced at the pain shooting through them.

“I’m taking that as a no then. And you know Daisuke is going to deliberately provoke you as much as he can tomorrow, with his hand on your back, patting your shoulders, everything he can. So, yeah. You should be prepared for that.”

Yuzuru nodded, leaning his head on Keiji’s shoulder. Exhaustion hit him properly and, all too soon, he was passed out on Keiji’s shoulder. The other chuckled and moved the mug and bowl onto the table so that they didn’t get broken before he laid Yuzuru on the sofa on his stomach. He covered him in a blanket, moving some of the hair out of Yuzuru’s face, before he headed into his room to try and get some sleep himself.

* * *

 

“Wakey wakey bastard!”

Jun rolled over in his sleep, curling back in on himself, before a bucket of ice-cold water was thrown on him. He gasped in shock before a rough hand pulled him to his feet, tugging his arms behind his back. His wrists were this time cuffed behind him and a blindfold covered his eyes instead of the bag over his head; he didn’t have a chance to look for Matteo. The creaking of the door of the cell echoed around the otherwise silent prison block and Jun was shoved out by the guards, pulling him in all different directions. He didn’t bother trying to remember the way out from his cell. After being dragged around for what felt like hours, he was shoved down into a seat.

The cool breeze made him shiver, especially in his wet clothes from having the water thrown on him. The black-tailed gulls cried out around him, and salt water spray hit his cheeks. The blindfold was tugged off him and his wrists were released. A small piece of bread was shoved into his hands, and he ate as he took in his surroundings.

He was on a tiny rowing boat, heading off the coast of Japan into the Pacific Ocean towards a larger boat with a full fishing crew on it. The sun was just rising over the edge of the ocean, bathing the ocean in golden light and painting the sky with orange and pink hues. The Japanese shoreline looked like it was taken from a painting, and Jun looked past it, to the west, wishing for a glimpse of home. He swallowed down his sadness and instead watched a pair of gulls glide over the water, calm and serene. For a moment, just a moment, he let himself forget where he was and enjoyed the scenery.

The moment was broken as the smaller boat was raised onto the larger and the guards unceremoniously shoved him out onto the main deck. He was hauled to his feet and shouted at in Japanese that he couldn’t understand. After getting several slaps for not understanding, one of the men took pity on him and half acted as a translator, using broken English and hand gestures to explain to Jun what they wanted him to do.

After sixteen long hours without a proper break or food, Jun was ready to pass out from exhaustion again. As the boat returned to the shoreline, he lost consciousness against one of the guards’ shoulders. They didn’t take any chances with him; they pulled his wrists back firmly and blindfolded him again before they carried him back to his cell. They carelessly dumped him in the middle of his cell, not bothering to put him back on the slate, untie his wrists, or remove his blindfold. They locked the door and glared at him firmly.

“Sleep well, Chon.”

Matteo, from the cell next to Jun, bit his lip hard at the state of the teenager after only one day.

* * *

 

“You need food.”

Jason looked up from where he’d been tracing circles on the wood of table absent-mindedly with his fingertips to see Javier offering him a plate of paella. The American shoved it away, stomach turning at the thought of eating.

“Not hungry.”

Javier sat down next to him at the table, shoving it back towards Jason. “I know how you’re feeling right now.”

“He’s like my baby brother. I promised him! I-I promised his parents I would keep him safe.” Jason buried his face further into his arms, shoulders shaking as he sobbed.

“I know,” Javier said softly, “I know you did. But Jason, this isn’t your fault.”

“If I—”

“If you what?” Javier cut in. “If you’d been there, do you really think you could have helped him? Or do you think that they would have attacked you too and taken you with him?”

“If I was there with him now—”

“They’d torture him in front of you to make you crack. I know. I’ve been in that position Jason. You’ve not gone through the same psychological and physical training we all have to help you not crack when interrogated like that, so, no offense, but you’re pretty vulnerable.” Javier sighed to himself. “It’s shit that they took a kid, though. They’re fucked up, but I didn’t think they were that fucked up.”

“Why did they take him?” Jason whispered into his arms, sobs calming down to the odd hiccup. “H-he’s… He’s so young…”

“And probably a virgin.” Javier said at point blank range. Jason swallowed down the nausea at Javier’s implications. “He’s cute, he’s also Korean so the perverts in their group would love someone like him—”

“Stop it.”

“—on their knees in front of them. Or tied down so—”

“Javier.”

“You get the point. Jun Hwan was a good target for them if they couldn’t get someone older. The only downside to choosing him as a target is that he doesn’t actually know anything. Not that their boss will care. He’ll care about how he can use him to make quick money.”

* * *

 

“Morning boys,” Daisuke tapped the desk as the three men stood in front of him, arms behind their backs as they waited for his instructions, “I trust you all slept well last night?”

They stood there in silence, waiting for him to strike. He rolled his eyes, sighing a little. “God, you’re no fun, are you? Anyway, here’s what you all have to do today.” He slid a file across it and Keiji picked it up, opening it and frowning along with the other two as they read through it.

“What is this?” Yuzuru asked softly.

“A business proposition. You three are going to negotiate it for me.”

“Since when did we negotiate this sort of thing for you?” Shoma questioned, earning looks of confusion from the other two. “I mean, you’re the best at negotiating out of all of us. Why would you trust us with something like this?”

“Oh Shoma, you’re not going alone, don’t worry.” Daisuke smirked, standing up. “We’re going together as a unit! I’ll do the talking, but you three will help with the negotiations however you can.” He fixed Yuzuru with a level glare. “If that’s by threatening them with a gun to their head or by taking the opposite tactic and spreading your legs for them, I don’t care. You’re going to help me with these negotiations.”

He patted Yuzuru’s back as he walked past, followed by his two guards, and the trio were left to follow them like obedient dogs. Keiji kept a firm hand on Yuzuru’s waist, supporting him as he still struggled to walk and move properly from the pain in his back.

“Don’t cry,” Keiji whispered, earning a confused look from Shoma, “or he’ll slap you.”

“I won’t cry,” Yuzuru swallowed down his scream when one of the guards picked up on what was going on and slapped him hard on the back. “I won’t.”

“Now, gentlemen. Get in the car. We don’t have all day.” Daisuke snapped. His face then softened somewhat and his tone was overly sweet. “Yuzu, you look tense. Would you like a shoulder and back massage to help you relax? No one wants to meet clients when they’re stressed after all.”

Keiji dug his nails hard into his palm as Yuzuru couldn’t say no.

* * *

 

Jason’s thumb hovered over the contact in his phone as he internally debated calling it. The apartment was eerily quiet; without Jun’s bright personality and smiles even through the stuff life threw at them in the restaurant, the whole place felt like it was missing something fundamental. Everywhere Jason looked, he was reminded of the Jun-shaped hole left in his life. Their toothbrushes in the pot by the sink taunted him. Jun’s room, door agar, with the K-Pop posters and pinboard full of photos of Jun’s family and friends tormented Jason. The American shut the door firmly, fighting back tears. Jun’s slippers by the door, his clothes in the laundry basket, his homework from school scattered on the table, every little detail of their apartment screamed to Jason that he was missing one of the most important people in his life.

And he could do nothing about getting him back. Nothing except this.

Jason swallowed down his fear and hit call on the contact, holding his phone up to his ear.

“Hello?” The Japanese voice came through on the other side. Jason almost sagged with relief. “Who is this?”

“S-shoma…”

“Jason? What’s… What’s wrong? Are you alright?”

“I-I have a huge favour to ask you.”

The silence on the other end was almost deafening for Jason until Shoma eventually spoke up again in a very small voice. “I-I can’t do what you’re going to ask of me.”

“Shoma—”

“I can’t, Jason.” His voice cracked as he kept speaking. “I-I… I can’t do that. Ask me to swim to Canada with you and I’ll do it. Ask me to jump off a building, to bring you a live dragon, anything else and I’ll do it without hesitation. B-but… But I physically cannot save him for you. It’s… I want to, more than anything I want to help him, because no one his age should go through something like that. B-but… I can’t physically. Daisuke wouldn’t even let me take him to his cell.”

Jason wiped at his eyes, swallowing down the lump in his throat. “I-is… Is there anything you can do?”

“I can make you a promise. I promise you, Jason, right here and now that, if the chance should appear, I will save him. I can’t promise that the chance will ever show itself though.”

“T-thank you Shoma.” He wiped at his eyes, helplessness shooting through his veins as if someone had injected him. “T-thank you.”

“I love you,” Shoma whispered. “I know we’ve only seen each other a few times, but I’m… I’m so in love with you.”

“I-I think I’m in love with you too,” Jason whispered, tears running down his cheeks as the weight of the words sunk into his heart.

* * *

 

“—just a kid. He arrived last night, poor thing, and had to work all day.”

“They’re being worse to him because he’s Korean, aren’t they?”

“I guess we should count ourselves lucky we’re not in his position.”

Jun blinked awake, groaning as he rolled onto his back. After shaking his head around, he managed to get the blindfold off and onto the floor. His cell had a little window in it; he could see the horizon out onto the ocean again. The stars above it taunted him by providing a perfection and hope that he couldn’t reach. He pushed himself up, without the use of his hands, onto his shaking legs, weak from exhaustion, before he made his way over to the barred window. The others fell silent, hearing his movements. Jun sat down by the window, still watching the stars, before he burst into tears again.

“There are some water bottle in your room, but you can’t…”

Jun looked to see Matteo half smiling at him. He followed his eyes to see the three plastic bottles lined up against the wall, each full of water. He felt sick to his stomach from nerves, confusion, hunger, and home sickness for Canada and Seoul, and the restraints around his wrists stopped him from attempting to get some water.

“I guess you should meet the others,” Jun ripped his gaze away from the water to look around the dimly lit area. He couldn’t see much, but, in the cell opposite a girl, slightly older than him, was curled up into a ball. The cell on the other side of him was empty. Opposite to Matteo was another guy around their age and, on the girl’s other side the cell was empty too.

“Hey,” the girl tilted her head at Jun as she spoke, “you’re Korean too, aren’t you?”

Jun nodded and she sighed, looking down at the floor next to her. “They put you through shit, they really do. I’m sorry. I’m Choi Da Bin.”

“Cha Jun Hwan,” he mumbled in response, “h-have they… Have…?”

“No. Well, not yet. I-I’ve kind of accepted that it’ll only be a matter of time until they do…”

Jun swallowed the urge to vomit as he turned his attention to the other. He smiled, brushing his sandy hair out of his eyes.

“Hey there. I’m Deniss. From Latvia. They don’t really like the guy who has half adopted me, so yeah, I’m here until he can work out a way to break me out. Nice to meet you. I just wish we’d all met in a better setting.”

Matteo nodded, tracing circles on the floor. “Yeah. Me too. I would love for you guys to be my friends. When we make it out of here, because we will, promise me you’ll stay in contact with me, okay?”

“Promise,” Da Bin said with a nod and a soft smile that gave Jun confidence.

“I promise too. And maybe you guys could come and visit me some time.” Deniss nodded.

“I promise as well.” Matteo added. “Oh, I’d love to show you all around Italy. There are some really beautiful parts of the country that I’d be honoured to be able to show you.”

“I promise,” Jun added softly before he cleared his throat and nodded more confidently. “I promise.”

“Shut the fuck up!” The guards snapped at them in English, and Da Bin shrank back into her corner, trying to make herself as small as possible. “Shut it or I’ll send you up to the boss’ room!”

The teenagers all fell silent and Jun slipped away from Matteo to curl up on the slate again. He shivered quietly, curling up in on himself as much as he could with his hands bound behind his back, falling into an uneasy sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jun was tugged to his feet by the guards before he was dragged out of the cell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter of the day, I know, but I'm getting frustrated with Eurovision so I found I wrote a load more of this and it felt mean withholding so much of it.
> 
> Um, yeah, I don't know what to say about this. Sorry Jun. Sorry Yuzuru. Sorry Shoma. But Jun especially, I'm so so sorry. The next chapter will be extra bad for him, but sorry now. This sets up the chapter after this, and we're kind of moving kind of nearer to the middle/second half of this story
> 
> Yeah, please forgive me for this story, and this chapter especially. Feel free to scream and cry at me in the comments. I hope you enjoy (?) this chapter; there might not be another one until Tuesday xx

Jun was tugged to his feet by the guards before he was dragged out of the cell. Glancing at the others, Da Bin was curled up on herself still, Deniss was glaring at the guards as Jun was pulled past his cell, and Matteo’s cell was empty. The guards shoved him into a separate room and he stumbled in the middle of it, looking around in confusion.

“Strip.”

Jun’s whole body tensed up and he turned around with wide brown eyes full of panic. He matched each step the guards took towards him with his own step backwards until his back hit the wall. The guards towered over him and he flinched, closing his eyes and willing himself not to cry.

“We’re washing you, bastard. We won’t ruin you. The boss would kill us if we ruined you when he can sell you for a good price. Now. Strip.”

The guards unlocked his hands from the cuffs and, trembling, Jun tugged off his jumper and folded it neatly before he handed it to one of the guards. Still shaking, he tugged off his shirt and froze after handing it to the guard.

“We don’t have all day, Chon. Come on.”

Jun’s fingers slipped, and it took him several attempts to unbutton his trousers. Biting his lip hard to stop himself crying, he pulled them off and handed them to the guard too, followed by his underwear before he had time to rethink it. As soon as he was undressed, freezing water was dumped over his head. Rough hands scrubbed at his slim body, cleaning him without taking any care. When they were done, they towelled him dry before they dressed him in clothes more suited to working with the fishermen.

Jun was blindfolded again before he was led out of the room and into the hallway. Deniss and Da Bin both gasped as he was dragged past them, earning a glare from the guards.

“Shut it slut, unless you want the boss to put you in your place.”

Jun heard Da Bin whimper and his heart broke for her as he was shoved forwards by the guards again, down random hallways until he felt the cool breeze of the sea air on his exposed cheeks again. When the blindfold was removed, he took in the sights again.

If the circumstances had been different, Jun was sure he would have loved Japan. It was beautiful; the blend of the nature with the urbanisation was perfect in preserving the old whilst developing and accepting the new. The teen watched more gulls flying across the horizon towards the sunrise as he nibbled on his food. Despite having not eaten since the morning before, he felt too nauseous to properly eat before he was shoved around on the main deck of the boat and made to work.

* * *

 

The restaurant, as well as Jason’s apartment, felt like it was missing something. Conrad and Joseph didn’t joke around nearly as much as they normally did when Jun was with them. Conrad’s nose had been fixed, but even that didn’t make him smile. The pair acted like their personalities had been muffled. Brian seemed more distant during his training time with Jason. He still corrected his technique and helped him, but a part of him seemed constantly sombre. Javier and Patrick kept their arguments to a minimum in front of Jason and both offered him sympathetic looks and pats to the shoulder whenever they saw him. Nam and Keegan tried to joke around with him, trying to make him smile more. Although it didn’t work, Jason appreciated the support they offered. Kaetlyn was the sweetest person to him though; she made him tea and didn’t try to offer words. She offered her shoulder for him to cry on and her ears to listen when he just wanted to cry or vent to her. She made time in her day to check that he was alright, and Jason was so grateful to her.

Being around other people helped to keep Jason’s mind at least partially distracted. It was when he was alone with his thoughts that he couldn’t help but think about the poor teenager stuck an ocean away from him, completely alone and helpless. He could barely eat as the guilt stopped him from being able to breathe or swallow properly. Every day, when he returned to their apartment, Jun’s things reopened a wound that never fully closed. Nights were the hardest for Jason. He’d heard the screams from downstairs when they’d held Yuzuru hostage and his mind cruelly replaced the Japanese man with Jun, screaming and sobbing for Jason to help him.

Brian found him in one of the training rooms at three in the morning, throwing knives into the wall with lifeless eyes. His technique was fabulous, and each one hit the target dead on the centre. Brian watched for a moment before he cleared his throat once Jason had used all the knives in the pile.

“How long were you watching?”

“Long enough. Your technique is much better now. I think we should focus on hand-to-hand combat in our training sessions from now on since you’ve improved so much with these and with a handgun.”

Jason shrugged as he pulled the knives out of the target, placing them back in the training case neatly.  Brian watched him, bowing his head a little.

“I’m sorry Jason.”

“P-pardon?”

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”

“Brian—”

“He was meant to be in my care. I was meant to be making sure he was okay. This burden shouldn’t rest on your shoulders, Jason, but on mine.”

“No, Brian, it’s not your fault.”

Brian fixed him with a level look. “It’s more my fault than it’s yours Jason. You weren’t anywhere near him. You couldn’t have done anything to save him.”

“I-I should have been there. I-I should have looked after him and made sure he was okay, and—”

“In the moment you did what you thought was right. You fought alongside the people you thought were protecting him. You did your best to protect him. I shouldn’t have let myself get knocked out like that.”

“It’s not your fault.” Jason said firmly. “Please, stop blaming yourself.”

Brian raised an eyebrow at him and Jason sighed, looking away from him. “You need to stop blaming yourself too then. The blame game will only distract all of us from what’s important: getting him back. And you’ll need proper sleep if you want to help him, Jason.”

“I-I… I can’t sleep…” Jason confessed, arranging and rearranging the throwing knives in their case. “It’s hard, being in the apartment without him. He’s… It’s like losing your baby brother. He’s… The spark is gone from our place. I miss him so much.” He rambled on before he lost the confidence to speak. “A-and when I can sleep, my nightmares are plagued with him getting hurt and me not being able to do anything. It’s… It’s been weeks Brian. Three weeks. H-he… H-he could be dead for all I know…”

“Don’t think like that.” Brian patted his shoulder. “He isn’t dead. They’re very keen to let us know that he’s very much alive. I told Javier not to tell you this because it would stress you out and upset you more, but they’ve sent us photos of him every day with a newspaper so we know the date.”

Jason’s eyes widened and he rubbed at his forehead, shaking his head. “H-how does he look…?”

Brian cringed, telling Jason everything. “To be honest, not good. We didn’t want to show you because he doesn’t look good at all.”

“How bad is it?”

Brian sat down on the bench next to him, shaking his head. “I’ll be honest here. It’s too early for me to try and sugar coat it. He’s definitely lost weight. He looks exhausted, pale, and there’s an almost constant bruising on his wrists.” He dug out his phone.

Jason was nearly sick on the spot when Brian showed him the photo of Jun. The teen looked ready to faint at any second, and his sleeves showed severe purple bruises around both his wrists. Some of his baby fat was gone from his cheeks and his eyes were lifeless and hopeless. Tears had turned his cheeks blotchy, and he bit his chapped lip hard, avoiding looking directly at the camera. Jun was so pale that the bruises on him and bags under his eyes were more prominent than ever. The carefree, ever cheerful teenager Jason had met in Seoul was gone; in his place was an almost shattered young adult forced to grow up too fast by the world around him.

“O-Oh my God…”

Brian patted his shoulder, closing the taunting email. “Sometimes I think I’m too old for this sort of thing. And then I see this happen, and I know that he’s too young for it. If I had my way, he, Conrad, and Joseph wouldn’t even know about what goes on around here, or they’d be kept far away from this world.”

Jason shook his head, tears running down the side of his face. “I-I just want him back. Safe.”

“We’ll get him back. I know we will. I don’t think we’ll get him back as exactly the same young man who was taken from us, but we will get him back.”

* * *

 

After weeks of exhausting work and a lack of proper food and water, the inevitable happened. The other fishermen were only surprised that it took that long, given the deteriorating state of the teenager day by day.

Jun collapsed on the boat, slamming his head into wooden side as he fell. He usually passed out at the end of his sixteen-hour shifts, but, by then, he was on the little boat back to the main compound and the prison complex. He’d come close to it, but he’d never before passed out in the middle of his work. The fisherman, who had acted as his translator for the weeks he’d been forced to work with them, tried shaking him awake. The others poured water on him, trying to get him to come to, but nothing worked. Eventually, one of them notified the guards with Jun about what had happened. They exchanged a look and one just threw the teenager's malnourished, limp body over his shoulder before their little rowing boat was lowered from the main ship back into the ocean. The fishermen watched, silently mourning the loss of the teenager they’d almost grown to care for over the few weeks. The guards remained silent as they carried the unconscious boy, once back on solid ground, and headed back towards the main compound. After winding through the maze of corridors down to the prison cells, they dumped the teenager back in his cell, shackling his wrists to the wall before one of them turned, smirking at the others teenagers locked up, watching from their own cells with wide eyes.

"You all know what will happen to him," the guard gestured to Jun, "so don't let it happen to you. Don’t mess up or you’ll end up in the boss’ office. This little bastard didn’t work hard enough and was too weak to last. He’ll have to be punished.” One of them leaned through the bars of Da Bin’s cell as much as he could, giving her a smirk that sent shivers down her spine. “You wouldn’t want to be in his place, would you? I’m sure the boss would let me play with you if you mess up after he’s had his fun. You’re very pretty, for a Korean slut.”

As the guards left, Da Bin burst into tears in her cell. Deniss did his best to comfort her through the bars as much as he could, but nothing he could say would prevent the inevitable. Matteo, for the first time in a while after he’d been taken, felt the urge to cry too. The three sat there in tears, taking in the broken state of their friend, as they tried not to think about what would happen to him.

* * *

 

“Boss wants to see you three.”

Keiji raised his head from his laptop screen and Yuzuru stopped idly throwing knives into the wall to look at the guard. Shoma put down his phone to frown at the man, studying his face.

“What for?” Yuzuru broke the silence.

“Sorting something out for him.”

“Could you be anymore cryptic?”

“Want another back massage Hanyu?”

Yuzuru bristled and Shoma stepped in next, resting a hand on Yuzuru’s shoulder. “Why does Daisuke want to see us? Have we done something wrong? The negotiations were fine I thought.”

“It’s not about the negotiations. It’s about moving some cargo.”

“That’s not our area.” Keiji pushed his chair back from his desk, standing up to meet the guard’s eyes dead on. “We do field work. Guard duty and moving cargo is your area of expertise.”

“Ahh, but this is very precious cargo. The boss wants you three to be the ones to move it to make sure it gets there safely.”

“Where?”

The guard smirked at Yuzuru, sending a chill down the back of his neck like someone had poured water down the back of his shirt. “Sendai. He’s setting up a new, uh, how should I say it? He’s setting up a new establishment there.”

Yuzuru’s face fell into a hard glare. “He said he wouldn’t. Not in Sendai. Anywhere else, he has the whole rest of the damn country to choose from. I told him.”

“And you also failed on your last mission, remember? This is the second part of your punishment, Hanyu.”

Yuzuru grabbed the front of the guard’s collar and pulled him closer, ready to strike him. “Go and tell him I said no. I refuse—”

“You refuse what Yuzuru?” The other flinched at the arrival of their boss, and he let the guard go. Both panted, putting some distance between them. “You refuse to do what I’m asking you to do?”

“I will not set one up in Sendai. Anywhere else, yes. Sendai? No. You told me you wouldn’t.”

“And you told me you wouldn’t let yourself get caught again.” Daisuke met Yuzuru’s eyes with a level look of his own. “We all have to go back on our promises sometimes Yuzuru. This is me going back on mine.”

A flicker of something ran through Yuzuru’s eyes, gone before Keiji or Shoma had time to register it, but it was there long enough for Daisuke. The boss cupped the other’s cheek, smirking at him.

“If you want a job there, I’d be happy to oblige. When your back heals, of course. I can’t be selling damaged merchandise to my clients. If you want to practice, my office door is always open for you.”

“I already did that for you, and that’s when you promised me you wouldn’t open one in Sendai!”

“And what a pretty sight you were for me.” Daisuke purred, “but I have to act as a business man Yuzuru. This is the best decision, and I’ve made it. That’s final. You three will help me to move the sluts, sorry I meant cargo, to Sendai or I’ll punish you so hard you can’t remember your own names. Clear? They’re not people, remember.”

The trio nodded almost numbly, and the guards left with their boss.

“It’s oka—”

“Don’t you dare say it’s okay.” Yuzuru cut Keiji off, eyes burning with rage. “He… I… I can’t believe—”

“It’s Daisuke.” Shoma cut in, picking up his phone again. “What did you expect?”

“Not to be stabbed in the back?”

Shoma looked over the top of his device, raising an eyebrow at him. “Tell me, Yuzuru, who was it who made a fifteen-year-old you—”

“Don’t—”

“—Choose between you or your sister—”

“Shoma shut up or this knife will be between your eyes—”

“Being—” Shoma leaned to the side, just dodging Yuzuru’s knife. It grazed his ear, drawing a bead of blood to the cut. “It’s the truth. Throwing a knife at me won’t stop the truth.”

“I know what I am.” Yuzuru hissed back, tossing another knife at the wall, further away from Shoma’s head this time. “I don’t need you to tell me.”

“It seems like you’ve forgotten what he is though.”

“Shoma,” Keiji warned, frowning over the top of his laptop, “don’t push it.”

“Who was it who threw a seventeen-year-old you out into Canada for the first time on field work with little real training, basing it instead on “natural talent”?”

Yuzuru kept quiet, looking at the opposite wall to avoid looking at Shoma.

“Who was it who beat you until you could barely breathe, let alone walk or move, and told us to make sure you didn’t die so that he could do it again?”

“Shoma.” Keiji glared at him, but the younger didn’t stop.

“Who was it, Yuzuru, who did this to your back? Who is it who has the power to break down every wall you’ve built up around yourself? Who was it who made you into who you are? Him. He did it. You shouldn’t expect anything less from him, because he’s the one who made you like this. That’s who he is and how he is. Don’t be so surprised that he’s gone back on a promise to you that he made when you were sucking his fucking dick as a desperate teenager, trying to save his sister.”

“Don’t act like you haven’t done the same,” Yuzuru spoke up finally, throwing another knife at the wall, “for Itsuki.”

“That’s not what I’m on about. I couldn’t give a shit how many people you’ve slept with to get to where you are. What I’m saying is: don’t expect anything more from him than the worst. He treats us like we’re nothing because that’s all he sees us as. His promises to us are just empty words.”

“I’m hungry.” Keiji cut in after a few moments of painfully awkward silence, standing up and pulling his jacket on. “Want to go out for some food?”

“If you’re paying.” Yuzuru half smiled at him as the group left. He patted Shoma’s shoulder as if to say ‘thank you for talking some sense into me’ as they walked out of the compound and into the streets of Tokyo to find a restaurant.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That’s weird.”
> 
> “What’s weird?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya everyone! Ya girl had two exams today and one went really badly whoops. Oh well. Hopefully my average on the other two will be enough to pull my grade up. So, because things didn't go to plan for me, you can all have the Chapter Of Doom (TM). This is the chapter I really struggled to write for reasons that will become clear if/when you read it. Fair warning: ALL OF THE TRIGGERS APPLY IN THIS CHAPTER. I MEAN IT. SERIOUSLY. I AM NOT PLAYING AROUND LOOK AWAY
> 
> Anyways, this is the chapter. Now, normally I would say please enjoy it, but don't. Please don't enjoy this chapter. Hate it. Hate everything that happens in it. Hate Daisuke especially. I'm asking you to get angry with me in the comments. Shout at me. Scream, cry, just don't compliment this chapter. 
> 
> For reference: 10,000,000 yen is around 90,000 US dollars (ish) so that gives you an insight on how far some people go in this fic. Gokiburi literally means cockroach in Japanese, Kimchi yarou means kimchi bastard, and tokuajin means Tokutei Asian and is used as a derogatory term used against Korean and Chinese people in Japanese. (you can probably tell who has a fun chapter just from these)

“That’s weird.”

“What’s weird?” Javier asked Brian, leaning over his shoulder to look at the message. Since Jun had been taken, they’d been getting the non-stop notes with updates on his situation. No demands were ever included in the messages; the people holding him just wanted to toy with the Canadians.

“They haven’t sent a picture of him,” Brian showed the other a message, “and they didn’t write in English. They always write in English.”

Javier studied the message, looking at the photo they did include. He narrowed his eyes, frowning as he tried to make something out in the exceptionally dark photograph. He could just about spot the bars of a cell and a shape inside it, pressed up against the wall. Anything more detailed than that was impossible to see properly.

“I don’t understand,” Javier thought aloud as he studied the picture in more detail. “I… I don’t understand this at all. Why did they send a blurry picture of what looks like a cell when we can’t make out anything in the picture?”

Both men sat down and looked at the picture in confusion. Nothing in the picture they could see had anything to do with Jun. After zooming in and studying each detail, changing the contrast and colours, they made out the bars of a cell and a body pressed up against a wall. Hair covered the person’s eyes and face, and so it was impossible to make out any features to identify them from.

“Hypothetically, if we assume that this is him—”

“We can’t assume that Brian.”

“Hence the word hypothetically being there Javier. Hypothetically, if we assume that this is him, then what are they trying to show us? That he’s still alive? Because we can’t really tell that from the photograph.”

“Maybe they’re showing us that he’s at breaking point.” Javi rubbed at the bridge of his nose, swallowing thickly. “God, we really need to get him back.”

“Well, we’ve got the plan of action.” Brian checked for the file on his laptop. “We’re just waiting for the latest intelligence from Scott and Tessa, and then we’re good to go.”

“Jason will be glad to hear that,” Javier rubbed at his forehead again. “I need a coffee. Or something stronger. An Irish coffee. Or forget the coffee and give me a bottle of vodka and a week off.”

“Nice try,” Brian said with half a smile. “You can have your vodka and a week off after we get him back. Come on. We’ll have a meeting and discuss what we’re going to do.”

The group all assembled in the meeting room, and the group seemed to perk up somewhat. The room, after weeks of feeling heavy with guilt and regret, finally felt lighter, like some of their burden had been lifted. Even before Javier started speaking to the group, there were more smiles around the table, people had brighter eyes, and Scott had even gone back to teasing Tessa. It felt like things were returning to how they were before Jun was gone, even back to before Yuzuru caused them trouble. Brian cleared his throat and handed out files.

“We’re leaving in the morning and will be heading to Tokyo, to their compound. I’ve detailed what each of you will need to do in order to get Jun Hwan out first. He is our first priority. After that, we worry about getting their boss, but only once we’ve got him out. Clear?”

“Clear.” Patrick nodded, reading through the file. “Looks like a solid plan. Get the kid, get the boss if we have time, go.”

“Don’t take any unnecessary risks. We just want him out safely.” Brian said firmly. The group all nodded when a message notification came up for the eldest. “What game are they trying to play?”

“What’s wrong?” Javier moved to read the new message, made up of neatly typed Kanji. “They do know we don’t speak Japanese, right?”

Jason tilted his head at them. “I speak Japanese.”

Everyone around the table blinked at him in shock. “You what?” Javier asked.

“I… Well, I’m still learning it, and I’m not perfect at it yet, but—”

“What does that say?” Javier pointed at the screen.

Jason frowned, looking at the writing. He read it, reread it, and read it again. His face fell; his eyes widened in pure terror and his mouth fell open. His breathing grew much more frantic and Javier had to shake his shoulder to get him back to the real world.

“Jason?”

“I-It… It says… I-It… T-they… The first one says “Guess who”, as in guess who’s in the photo. I-I’m guessing it’s J—… A-anyway, the second one says “You’ve done us a great service by not saving him yet. Sendai is the place, if you dare.”

“Sendai?” Brian’s eyebrows furrowed. “What on earth—why the sudden change?”

“I don’t know,” Javier said grimly, “but I don’t like it. I don’t know what he’s planning, and I don’t like it.”

* * *

 

When Jun came to again, head pounding, his eyes widened in fear and a tear ran down the side of his dust covered face when he realised what had happened as well as what was going to happen. He heard the hum of a car engine, and he couldn’t see anything from behind the bag over his head. He tugged against the chains in vain, slim body wracked with sobs, and someone slapped the side of his head when he started to shuffle too much. His tears couldn’t even fall anymore; he was too dehydrated, and he eventually passed out again from exhaustion.

Shoma kept his eyes fixed on Jun’s slumped over form, half to convince himself that he was still breathing and half to avoid looking at Daisuke’s wandering hands on Yuzuru. The teenager’s breathing was shallow and somewhat laboured, even after he’d passed out, and a wave of nausea rose up into his throat. He swallowed down the bile, trying to clear his head.

_“Where are you going again Shoma?”_

_“I… I have to go to Sendai for a little while.” Shoma gave his younger brother a very small smile as he packed a bag, lining the edges with weapons. “I’ve left extra cash in the box, and there’s always some more in the false bottom of the box of tea at the back of the cupboard if you really need it. I—”_

_“When will you be back?”_

_Shoma shrugged to avoid looking at him. “I… I don’t know. I’m sorry. I don’t know, but soon. I’ll be back soon for you.”_

_“Promise?”_

_“Promise.”_

_Itsuki launched himself into Shoma’s arms for a hug and the older could do nothing but comply with him; he guided his younger brother onto their sofa before he held him close. He cradled his head against his chest, stroking his hair lightly to try and comfort him._

_“I hate it when you go.”_

_“I know.”_

_“Do you have to leave? Is there anyway you can get out of it?”_

_“I’m sorry Itsuki,” Shoma whispered into his hair, “but no. Daisuke was adamant that we have to go with him.”_

_“Yuzuru and Keiji too?”_

_Shoma nodded and Itsuki inhaled sharply. “Is this…?”_

_“Punishment? I think so. And… And I think he’s targeted it too.”_

_Itsuki chewed his lip, shuffling closer to Shoma. “I hope I never become like Daisuke.”_

_“I hope you don’t too.”_

Keiji had to hold his hands firmly in his lap to stop himself from ripping Daisuke’s hands from where they slipped under Yuzuru’s shirt, stroking his back with what would seem like tenderness to everyone else. He dug his nails into his hands to try and force down his urge to hide the teenager from the others; the guards were having too much fun talking about what they were going to do once Daisuke gave them permission.

“Look at his cute little face,” one of them moved the bag off Jun’s head. Unconscious, his eyelashes looked longer and his lips were slightly parted. The man cupped Jun’s cheek and smirked at him. “Wouldn’t that mouth look so pretty wrapped around—”

“Gentlemen.” Daisuke cut in, hand moving away from Yuzuru’s back to slip down the front of his trousers instead. “Don’t damage him before I have a chance to sell him. He won’t be worth as much if you break his cute little face in too early. Once he’s taken a few, then you can have your fun and make him better at it.” He turned to Yuzuru; the younger was squirming under his touch, half trying to get away and half trying to get more. “Not a sound from you, or I’ll open up your back again and fuck you when you’re lying on a bed of rock salt.”

* * *

 

Jun came too, still hearing the hum of an engine. It then shut off and his heart sunk, stomach twisting into a knot painfully with nerves. The bag was shoved back over his head, when was it removed, before he was dragged out of the vehicle, legs shaking like a new-born deer. Rough hands shoved him forwards and the ground changed from paving stones to carpet. Through the hallway, he was then pushed around a corner and into another room with a marble sounding floor where his and the guards’ shoes clicked with every step. His arms were then pulled up and locked into chains above his head. Still blind, he tensed in terror as a cold blade slid underneath his shirt, pressing against his back. It ran up, reducing his flimsy and dirty clothing to just rags that the henchmen pulled away. His shoes and socks were removed before his trousers and underwear were also reduced to only rags, and Jun didn't have time to feel embarrassed before a wave of icy water was thrown at him. He shivered, trying to move away from the rough hands that scrubbed at his thin, malnourished body, however the chains held him firmly in place. Whoever was dealing with him soon started towelling him down. His wrists were finally released and a silky robe was wrapped around him. His arms were held firmly, not that he would have had the energy to fight the men off anyway, as he was marched, still blind, down a hallway. A door was shut firmly behind him and the bag was finally removed. Jun's eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the light. A large hand clamped over his mouth to muffle and silence his scream.

In the room was a bed, with cuffs at both ends, and shelves next to it covered in different bottles as well as a multitude of plastic things Jun didn't even want to consider.

"W-what..." Jun whispered, staring at the bed in shock, twisting to avoid the hands attempting to untie the robe. "W-what... I-I... W-why..."

"Why?" Jun looked up with wide, pleading eyes to see Daisuke striding into the room. The boss smirked at him. "Because the money from fishing has reduced. You've failed in your work, Chon, and I warned you what would happen." Jun gasped in horror as Daisuke ran a finger across the smooth skin of Jun's cheek. "So put on a good show."

"P-please!" Jun begged, resisting as much as he could against the other two men. They brushed his struggles away as if he was just a fly, removing the robe and forcing him down onto the bed. With the men holding him down, Jun’s eyes widened in horror and shock as Da Bin was dragged into the room to apply his makeup, covering up the bruises on his face as well as to make his eyes look bigger and lips more appealing. He looked less like a broken teenager and more like a less-broken, tall child.

“I’m sorry Jun,” she whispered, avoiding looking at him anymore than she had to, before she was dragged back out.

Jun watched her go with broken, betrayed eyes before he started to struggle again against the bonds "P-please, please don't do this! I-I... I-I'll work harder! I pro—"

"Finally," Daisuke rolled his eyes as Jun was gagged. "I was getting sick of your voice. I'm getting 10,000,000¥ for this, far more than you earned for me through fishing. So, gokiburi, I'm doing this because I'm being paid to have you tied up, gagged, blindfolded, and with your legs spread. Don't bite or your next time will be even worse for you."

Jun's eyes filled with tears once more just before they were covered by a silky, black blindfold. A tear ran down the side of his face, running out from underneath it before it soaked into the sheets; Da Bin’s makeup, however, stayed firm and strong against the tears.

Daisuke smirked and leaned in to whisper to the teenager. He ran his finger lightly from Jun’s jawline down his chest, enjoying watching the teenager flinch and try to move away from his touch. "Have fun tokuajin." As the teenager squirmed and struggled on the bed, Daisuke left the room.

"Comfortable gentlemen?"

Yuzuru, Shoma, and Keiji were seated on white leather armchairs in the adjacent room. The wall dividing them was showing Jun on a large screen, and the three men were adjusting their suits, uncomfortable. They looked up simultaneously at Daisuke, a variety of grim expressions on their faces.

"Why are we here?" Keiji asked, fiddling with his cuff links. "I don't particularly want to watch this."

"Well now, that's telling, isn't it?" Daisuke said coldly, "But tough luck. You're all watching this."

"Daisuke," Shoma mumbled, "please, I can't watch this. I-I... My brother--"

Daisuke slapped him hard before he turned, heading towards a different doorway. "Don't be weak Shoma. He's not a person. He's one of them; he's a kimchi yarou and one of the Toronto bastards. It's what he deserves. Don’t compare your strong, promising brother to this weak little slut."

“Daisuke.” Yuzuru met his stare with a level one. “Are we really necessary? Do we have to watch this?”

“Yes.”

“Daisuke, please—”

“Do you want to act it out in my office instead?”

Yuzuru fell silent, head hanging forwards in shame.

With that, Daisuke patted Yuzuru’s back before he left and locked the three men in the room. Shoma started towards the other door, the door into the room with Jun. Yuzuru grabbed his wrist and pulled him back into the chair.

"What the hell are you doing? You can't just walk in there." Yuzuru hissed.

"We can't just leave him in there." Shoma retorted coldly, trying to get past Yuzuru. "He's a kid!"

"You heard Daisuke," Keiji piped up, holding one of Shoma's arms down as Yuzuru held the other. "It's... What... What he..."

"Do you honestly believe that? Either of you?" Shoma cut in struggling against the other two. "He's seventeen! Itsuki is seventeen! Do you think Saya would sit back and watch as this happened to you again, Yuzuru?"

Yuzuru's eyes hardened. "Leave her out of this Shoma. There's a lot you don't know about that time."

"She wouldn't leave you and you—"

"Here he is," the three men all looked up at the screen and paled. Daisuke had opened the door and led in an imposing, clearly muscular man. Shoma's eyes flicked to Jun's slim, squirming form on the bed before he lunged for the door again. Keiji just caught his waist and pulled him back to his seat.

"He'll break!" Shoma shouted, thrashing about, trying to get out of Keiji's hold.

"I'm sure he won't." Yuzuru said with a very tight voice.

On the screen, Daisuke left the room holding a suitcase that Yuzuru could only assume was full of money, and the man then approached Jun. Yuzuru raised his eyes to look instead at the camera watching them and shook his head a little, just so that he wouldn’t have to watch the man on the screen undressing and the teenager sobbing. Keiji looked pale as he kept Shoma in his seat, and the third man was shaking, trying to hide the tears in his eyes.

Despite being gagged, Jun's scream was clear. Shoma burst into tears upon hearing it and Keiji covered his mouth to keep from vomiting. Yuzuru looked everywhere but at the screen as the screams died down to poorly muffled whimpers, even behind the gag.

"You're so tight," Yuzuru grimaced as he heard the panted praise, and he dug his nails into his arm hard to try and distract himself. "God, you were made for this, you Korean slut. I'm already so close."

_“You’re so tight, Yuzuru.” Daisuke smirked down at him. Yuzuru couldn’t even look at him; his eyes were scrunched up tight in pain and tears still escaped them, running down the side of his face and onto the sheets. “Aren’t you glad that it’s you here and not your sister?”_

Shoma gave up trying to fight and instead buried his face in Keiji's shoulder. Yuzuru rubbed his back softly as a tear slid down his own face. The man pulled out after spilling inside the teenager and got dressed before he turned to go.

"I won't be long, Chon. Just need a moment to get ready again." He caressed Jun's face before he smirked and left.

Jun's whimpers had all but stopped, and he tugged lightly against the restraints to try and curl up into a ball. All three men noticed the red stain on the sheets simultaneously, and Keiji vomited on the spot then.

"H-he... He's just a kid," Shoma's voice shook. "S-same age as Itsuki... I-I..."

"Try not to think about it," Yuzuru mumbled. Shoma glared at him.

"Try not to think about it? He's just had his fucking virginity stolen from him as a teenager, as a kid, so that Daisuke can line his pockets. How?! How can you, of all people, say that?! Daisuke spent half the journey torturing you again and the other half feeling you up, and yet you still defend him?! This kid will never be the same again, and all I can think is "thank God it wasn't Itsuki." He's... No one deserve this."

Yuzuru put himself between the door and Shoma, voice shaking and cracking. "Shoma. I know what he’s been through b-but… But think. Daisuke did it for the group--"

"Don't give me that bullshit Yuzuru. Neither of us believe it. Daisuke could have killed him if he was a threat to the group, or kept him working where he was. Instead he did this. I—I... I can't. I'm not playing this game anymore."

Shoma shoved Yuzuru out of the way and burst into the other room. The man hadn't returned yet so, using his pocket knife and switch blade, Shoma started cutting through the gag and blindfold. He picked the locks on the cuffs and wrapped the shaking teenager up in the robe again. Shoma avoided making eye contact with him, guilt eating away at his stomach as he helped him to stand.

In the other room, Yuzuru and Keiji exchanged a look. Yuzuru swallowed, risking everything as he pulled out his phone to send a text.

_Yuzuru: I need you. Please come to the shipping yard in Sendai. We have him. He's in one piece physically and is alive._

After pressing send, Yuzuru checked his weapons before he rushed into the room and Keiji lingered behind, just for a moment, before he followed the other two. The three men and the teen then ran down one of the secret passages together, escaping the room just as the man returned. Daisuke headed into the room and his eyes narrowed at the empty bed and agar door through to the other room.

“Where the fuck do those bastards think they’re going?”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Javier: I’m on my way
> 
> Yuzuru: We’re in Sendai. Not Tokyo
> 
> Javier: I know. I’ll meet you by the warehouse. Our warehouse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone again! I decided I couldn't leave you for days on end with that ending, so I'll leave you with this one instead hehehehe. Not sure what I can say about this chapter really without spoiling it.  
> Thank you so much to everyone for reading this fic by the way. I know it touches on some less than lovely topics, so I get why people don't want to read it, but thank you for all your support. It keeps me going and makes me inspired to write more  
> Anyways, thank you for all your support and please enjoy (yes, you can enjoy it this time) this chapter xx

_Javier: I’m on my way_

_Yuzuru: We’re in Sendai. Not Tokyo_

_Javier: I know. I’ll meet you by the warehouse. Our warehouse._

Yuzuru smiled slightly at the message as their group rushed down the passageway. Daisuke had put passageways into all of the buildings in case they were taken over and everyone needed to escape, however the boss had never considered that others might use them against him in a moment of hot-headed rebellion and defiance. Keiji went first in the group, gun raised and ready as he scanned the area before them. Shoma, guiding and supporting Jun, went next, and Yuzuru came up last, checking behind them in case anyone was following them. Like Keiji, he also had his gun raised and ready.

The teenager in the middle of the group stumbled, legs wobbly, and Shoma helped him stay upright as the pain in between his legs made walking properly difficult for him. Shoma kept him moving forwards, guiding him down the passageway and after Keiji. Jun was eerily silent, barely letting out a whimper when he stepped on broken glass with his bare feet. The group weaved through the passageway, reminding Jun absently of when the guards would tug him, blind, through the corridors from his cell to the docks, and they eventually emerged out onto a dimly lit street. Keiji tucked them all against a wall, hidden in the shadows, as he started planning their route.

“What’s your name?” Shoma whispered to Jun in Japanese. The teen blinked at him, fear rising up more into his deep brown eyes.

“He doesn’t understand Japanese.” Yuzuru said softly before he turned to Jun too. “What’s your name?” he asked, this time in English. The Korean teen tilted his head at Yuzuru, frowning. “Don’t speak English either?”

“I-I do,” he whispered, voice rough and cracking from the earlier abuse of his mouth and throat, “b-but… but why does my name matter? Everyone… Everyone else has called me slurs because of who I am. B-because I’m from Seoul. Why… Why haven’t you? And why did you save me?”

“One question at a time,” Keiji cut in with a soft whisper, “and he asked first.” He then swapped to Japanese to address Yuzuru and Shoma only, “but don’t push him, you two. He’s been through enough already.”

There was a very long, tense silence where Jun frowned and fiddled with the edge of the robe. He shivered as the cool air of the evening bit at his exposed skin, and he rubbed at his sore and tender wrists. “J-Jun Hwan.”

“Jun Hwan.” Yuzuru repeated slowly, and Shoma rubbed Jun’s shoulders lightly. “Now to answer your question. We haven’t called you slurs because… Well... Because…”

Keiji translated for Shoma and the younger pulled a face, whispering something to him. “Shoma says you shouldn’t be called that.”

“There’s a line and… Well, today they crossed it.” Yuzuru added.

Keiji nodded before he showed them the map. “Alright. As long as we avoid the main streets, we should get to the warehouse okay. Then you can go home, and we call make our own choices. If Gabby will have me, I’ve made mine.”

Shoma tugged on Jun’s arm and sleeve lightly to follow Keiji, pulling him out of his painful thoughts and daydreams. “Are you alright?” he asked in careful and shaky English.

“The stars are really beautiful,” Jun mumbled as they slipped from shadow to shadow. “I wonder if Jason can see the stars.”

Shoma blinked at him, eyebrows furrowing. “Jason?”

“Y-you know Jason?”

Shoma nodded seriously and the teenager’s face softened. He was, unsurprisingly, in an absolute state. The makeup Da Bin had applied had mostly stayed put, but the colouring on his lips had been smeared across his chin and cheeks. His eyes were so empty and void of proper emotions. Shoma could probably have snapped his wrist with one hand if he’d tried. The teenager looked pathetic and shattered beyond repair. Shoma swallowed down the mix of guilt and disgust in his throat before he encouraged Jun to go on after Keiji.

It took hours of them sneaking through the backstreets, from shadow to shadow, before they made it to the shipping yard. Shoma insisted on picking up a cheap bento box for Jun to try and make him feel more satisfied. Keiji unlocked the warehouse and let the group in once he’d checked it over.

“Clear,” he said softly, guarding the main level. Yuzuru, patting Shoma on the back, headed up to the upper level to stand guard too. “I think they should be here soon.” Keiji nodded to Jun with the ghost of a smile. “Then you can go home.”

Jun nodded, expression still somewhat blank as his smile failed to reach his eyes. Shoma dug out a blanket for him and wrapped him up in it to try and keep him warmer.

“Eat,” he said before he withdrew his own gun. “When they get here,” he was careful and slow on each word, trying not to make a mistake, “you’re our first…”

“Priority.” Yuzuru supplied from upstairs.

Shoma nodded, continuing. “We make sure you’re safe, and then we worry. Don’t look back.”

Jun picked at the food before he nodded, staring vacantly at the stars through the skylight. Shoma rubbed at his arm again.

“How you feel?”

“Hurts,” Jun’s voice cracked before he busied himself with another mouthful of rice.

“Sorry…”

“Y-You… You have nothing to apologise for… Y-you don’t need to say sorry. I-I… Actually, thank you. F-for… For saving me… F-from—…”

Shoma shushed him, rubbing at his shoulders to try and sooth him. “No need to thank us. I… I have a brother. Your age.” Jun’s eyes widened as Shoma pressed on in his shaky English. “I-I… I couldn’t…” Shoma cleared his throat and moved on, trying again. “You have a brother? Or a sister?”

“A-an older brother… Twenty-one.” Shoma’s heart caught in his throat. “H-he… He lives in Seoul back home.”

“Do you miss him?” Shoma asked. Jun’s eyes filled with tears and one slid down his cheek and neck, soaking into the material of the robe. The emotions that had been lacking from Jun before all came flooding back as more tears ran down his cheeks.

“S-so much…” Jun whispered, “But… But I can’t face him now. I-I… I’m…” he dissolved into full on sobbing. “I-I’m a disgrace.”

“No.” Shoma cut in. “You’ve suffered so much. You’re not a disgrace. You… It’s not your fault, and I know he’d understand that. No older brother would blame their little brother for something like this. And… And no older brother would shut their little brother out after this too when they need them the most.”

Jun shrugged, more tears running down his face. “T-this… It doesn’t happen to guys—”

“Yes, it does.” Yuzuru cut in from his post upstairs.

“Don’t try and twist what happened to you,” Shoma said gently, “because this wasn’t your fault, and your brother still loves you.”

“I-I’m… I’m never going to be who I was before all this, am I?” Jun mumbled, more to himself. “I’m… This is a part of me now.”

Shoma carefully moved some of Jun’s hair out of his eyes. “It doesn’t have to define you.”

Jun met Shoma’s eyes and something softened between them. Yuzuru’s phone buzzed and he checked it, unable to hide his tiny smile as he as he rushed down the stairs to the doorway. He unlocked it, and Keiji tightened his grip on his gun still in case he had to protect his friend. A hooded figure walked in and, once the door was shut, they dared to reveal their identity.

“Javi,” Yuzuru breathed, pulling Javier into a tight hug. “Don’t touch my back.” He warned, and Javier’s hands cupped his waist instead of cradling his shoulders. “Thank you… Thank you for coming.”

“Jun?” Javier asked lightly, kissing the top of Yuzuru’s hair. “Where is he?”

Yuzuru stepped back and Javier’s face fell. The teenager locked eyes with him across the room before the Spaniard headed over to him very cautiously.

“Hey there Junbug.”

Jun half smiled at the nickname, but Javier’s heart twisted at the expression on the youngster’s face. The light, the fight, everything enthusiastic and happy about Jun was gone. Javier offered him a hand, helping him to his feet.

“Hi Javier. W-where—”

“Jun.”

Jun looked over Javier’s shoulder, heart stopping for a moment. There, in the doorway, was unmistakably Jason. Jun stumbled over himself, fighting through his exhaustion and pain, to throw himself into the arms of the other. Jason ran to him too and met him halfway before he caught the younger and held him tightly, tears streaming down his face as he cradled the youngster in his arms. Jun buried his face into Jason’s chest, choking on his sobs and hiccupping.

“J-J-Jason, I-I’m so sorry I-I—”

“N-No, Jun, no, I’m sorry. T-this is all my fault—”

“It’s not!” Jun protested, hiding his face in Jason’s neck. “I-It will never be your fault. Please… Please don’t blame yourself.”

Jason couldn’t respond; he was too choked up with emotion to properly speak. Javier had Yuzuru back in his arms and had pulled him into a kiss, both overwhelmed with emotion.

“Javi,” Yuzuru whispered. “I-I… I can’t stay here anymore. They… We…”

“You’re outcasts. Now that you’ve betrayed your boss to save Jun, you... You’ll be hunted for the rest of your lives.”

“Does this mean—”

“It means I will stay with you wherever you have to go.” Javier said firmly, cupping his cheek. “I-I… I’m so in love with you, Yuzuru, that I could never give you up. No matter what. I want to stay with you forever, even if it means running from the Japanese and Canadian mafias for both of our lives.”

Yuzuru gave him a weak smile and leaned his head against Javier’s chest. “What did I do to deserve you?”

“I should be asking you that.”

“We need to go.” Jason said softly, voice half muffled by Jun’s hair. “We… Before someone sees us.”

As the adrenaline left him, Jun passed out again. Javier, as the strongest, took Jun in his arms from Jason so that he could carry him back to their waiting boat. Yuzuru kept close to his side, acting as Javier and Jun’s bodyguard as Keiji did the same on Javier’s other side. Jason’s eyes barely left Jun, almost as if he was scared that looking away would mean that Jun would disappear again. Shoma slipped his hand into Jason’s.

“Thank you,” Jason whispered. “For… You know.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t act sooner.” Shoma replied, sorrow and regret seeping into his voice. “I’m sorry, he… He’s… He’s never going to be the same.”

“He’s here. He’s not… He’s not dead. He’s alive and… And I can take him home. His dream can still come true.”

“Jason,” Shoma looked at him seriously. “Jason, I… I have to leave. My brother and I, we can’t stay here in Japan anymore, otherwise my boss will kill me and… A-and I don’t even want to think about what he might do to Itsuki… C-can…”

“Come with me,” Jason cupped his cheek, looking into Shoma’s deep brown eyes, full of unspoken emotion. “Please. Come with me and Jun, with your brother and everything as well. Please. We’ll find somewhere that you can be safe, that we can be safe, and live out the rest of our lives together.”

A tear ran down Shoma’s cheek and he nodded, surging up to kiss Jason. The other held his waist as Shoma held his cheeks, keeping him close as they kissed. Javier and Yuzuru exchanged a look when they glanced back and saw the pair.

“They’re cute,” Yuzuru moved some of Jun’s hair out of his eyes as he slept, “they’re cute together.”

“I feel like I should be mad about their secret relationship blossoming under my nose, but I can’t do that. Not when they’re so emotional and tender about it.”

“We were the same, Javi. You can’t be mad.”

Shoma eventually pulled away and slipped his hand into Jason’s as they caught up with the others. With Keiji planning their route, they slipped through the shadows again to make it to the docks. Javier carried Jun onto their little boat and set him down comfortably in one of the rooms. Yuzuru climbed in with him and he offered a hand to the others.

“Come with us. Please.” He looked Shoma dead on, walls finally down and heart unguarded. “You know what Daisuke will do if he finds you. Please. We can all be safer this way. And Keiji, I know about her.” Keiji stiffened but Yuzuru held up a hand to calm him down. “Please. Please come with us. You two are like my family.”

“I have to get Itsuki.” Shoma said seriously. “He’s still in Tokyo. I can’t leave without him.”

“We can go back via Tokyo so that you can get him.” Yuzuru almost pleaded with him as he helped Keiji climb into the boat too. “Please.”

Shoma and Jason exchanged a look before the younger took Yuzuru’s outstretched hand, accepting his help into the boat. Jason then climbed in with them and, with one last look back at his home town, Yuzuru turned away. Tears blurred his vision as they set off away, from the comforting shoreline of Sendai in the cover of night.

“It’s okay,” strong, warm arms enveloped Yuzuru, holding him close but still being mindful of his back, “it’ll be okay, I promise.”

“Silly Javi,” Yuzuru smiled through his tears. “You can’t know that.”

“I know it’ll be okay. That’s why I can make you this promise. We’ll stop in Tokyo long enough for Shoma to get his brother, and then we’ll go… Uh…”

Yuzuru chewed his lip, thinking. “Spain?”

“I’m not sure.” Javier said seriously. “We’ll… We’ll think of something. I know we will.”

“We always do. We make it through in the end.” 

* * *

 

_Javier: Jun Hwan is safe. I’m taking him somewhere safe. Jason and I are never coming back Brian. Put a price on our heads if you have to, but this is something we have to do._

_Brian: Javi? Can we talk?_

_Brian: Don’t do this_

_Brian: Javier, please reply_

_Javier: I’m sorry for doing this to you Brian. My mind has been made up_

_Brian: I support you as much as I can. But if you’re ever in Canada, I’m sorry to say that people will probably hunt you down_

_Javier: I expected that. Stay safe Brian_

_Brian: If you’re looking for somewhere safe to go, I can recommend South Korea. Find Yuna Kim. She has a safe house in Seoul. I send all my ex-agents there because she helps them with therapy too_

_Javier: You’re the best Brian_

_Brian: I wish you the best_

_Javier: You too_

* * *

 

_Shoma: Itsuki, pack a bag. Pack me one too. Only bring the necessities. We need to leave_

_Itsuki: Is it Daisuke?_

_Shoma: Yes. We need to leave Japan. Please pack only the necessities and meet us by the Tokyo docks_

_Itsuki: Are you hurt?_

_Shoma: No, don’t worry._

_Itsuki: I’ll see you soon_

_Shoma: I love you Itsuki_

_Itsuki: I love you too Shoma_

* * *

 

“Keiji, what happened?” Gabby asked, voice tight on the other side of the phone.

Keiji swallowed as he looked around the boat. Jason and Shoma were sleeping together on the floor of Jun’s room after the American took it upon himself to make sure the younger was physically alright. Yuzuru had finally convinced Javier to go to sleep, and so the two Japanese men were the only ones awake and on deck. Keiji exchanged a look with Yuzuru across the boat before the other went back to looking at the stars, and Keiji focused on his phone conversation.

“I-I… They… I don’t know how to say this Gabby so I’ll tell you what I can. I-I can’t stay in Japan. Not anymore. We saved the kid. He’s alive, he’s out, he’s away from Daisuke, and we’re taking him to Seoul to be safe. I will probably spend the rest of my life there, just to be safe from Daisuke.”

“O-oh…”

“Gabby, Gabby listen to me, please. Javier is staying with Yuzuru. They’re in love, and they’re staying together. Jason and Shoma too. They’re going to stay together in Seoul and live in safety, away from the lives we used to lead. And I’m going there too, I’m going to be away from this life, and I’m begging you to join me Gabby. Please.”

Gabby remained silent for too long, and Keiji’s heart hurt. The seconds felt like hours of silence between them, and Keiji raised his eyes to the stars.

“Yes.”

“Y-yes?”

“Yes.” Gabby said softly. “I will make my way to Seoul and meet you. I-I… I want to be with you, Keiji, I really do. So much. More than so much. I’ll come and find you.”

Keiji sagged back in his seat, laughing as tears of happiness fell. “Y-you mean it?”

“I mean it,” he could hear the smile in her voice. “I mean it, Keiji. I love you so much. I… I will come and find you, and we can live together in safety.”

“I love you,” he whispered into the phone, smiling. “I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll see you too Keiji. I love you so much.”

When she hung up, Keiji just held the phone close. His lock screen was very generic, but his home screen was a selfie of them on one of the occasions when they’d managed to get some time to hang out together. His heart warmed at her bright smile, her eyes full of love and happiness, and he held the phone close to his heart.

Yuzuru, on the other side of the boat, smiled when he heard the end of Keiji’s conversation. He looked back up at the stars, half leaning over the boat to trail his fingers through the cold water of the ocean. He’d sent Saya a message, telling her that he could never come back to Japan, and she’d responded saying that he was welcome to move to China with her.

“Thank you,” he whispered to the stars, “for keeping her safe.”

* * *

 

_“Gabby, Gabby listen to me, please. Javier is staying with Yuzuru. They’re in love, and they’re staying together. Jason and Shoma too. They’re going to stay together in Seoul and live in safety, away from the lives we used to lead. And I’m going there too, I’m going to be away from this life, and I’m begging you to join me Gabby. Please.”_

Daisuke’s eyes burned with thunder as he and his men listened into Keiji’s phone conversation. He shoved the desk in anger, upsetting it and knocking files and paperwork everywhere.

“After all I’ve done for those three, they betrayed us not only by letting the little slut get away but they’ve been playing double agents for months?” Daisuke spat, hissing as he spoke.

“Boss?” one of his guards asked cautiously.

“Fucking find them. When they get to Tokyo. Drag the Korean bitch back here, and make Hanyu, Uno, and Tanaka suffer for what they’ve done. Bring me them all back alive so that I can enjoy making this painful for all of them. I’m going to shatter Hanyu beyond repair, and Fernandez will finally be out of the way. Go to Seoul and get Tanaka’s girl so that I can shatter him too. And bring me Uno’s little brother too so I can break him even further. They’ll all suffer for the shit they’ve just pulled. Starting with Uno and then Korean bitch.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Itsuki!” Shoma pulled his younger brother in for a tight hug, holding him close and firmly against his chest. “Y-you… You’re here and you’re okay…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone. Please note the updated tags before reading this chapter; it's relevant. If you don't like this sort of thing, please please please please pretty pretty please don't read it, and if you're uncomfortable please talk to me! I swear I don't bite!
> 
> Anyway, chapter. I don't really know what to say about this so um... Thank you for reading and enjoy? x

“Itsuki!” Shoma pulled his younger brother in for a tight hug, holding him close and firmly against his chest. “Y-you… You’re here and you’re okay…”

Itsuki nodded, face buried in Shoma’s shoulder as he wrapped his arms around his older brother, pulling him closer. “I am. Should… Should we get going?”

Shoma nodded, pulling away to wipe his eyes and take the bags from Itsuki. The younger kept his hand firmly on Shoma’s elbow as they weaved their way through the people milling around by the docks. Shoma scanned the area before he approached their boat.

Javier and Yuzuru had headed into the city to try and find them something to eat before they continued on with their journey to Korea. Keiji, after taking the night shift, was asleep in one of the other rooms, and Jason and Jun were sitting on the dock together in a comfortable silence. Jun was looking out over the ocean, watching the gulls fly around overhead and the sun poke out above the horizon. Jason kept his hand on Jun’s back, rubbing it lightly. The teen had changed out of the robe and Javier had taken great delight in throwing it into the ocean. They’d dressed him in a mishmash of their clothes: a jumper of Jason’s, jeans of Javier’s, a shirt of Yuzuru’s, and little extras of Shoma’s and Keiji’s. Jason had forgotten to pack Jun anything to take with him, and Brian had promised to send their things to Korea for them. They were all dealing with the situation as best as they all could and they all planned a fresh start in Seoul.

Shoma helped Itsuki onto the boat before he placed their things down in one of the rooms. The younger sat down on the deck, watching Jason and Jun with curiosity. The Korean youngster tensed up a little as their boat rocked gently and a light spray of salt water covered his and Jason’s cheeks.

“Hey, hey, Jun, what’s wrong?” Jason held his shoulders, eyes wide with concern as silent tears started to fall down the other’s face. “Does it hurt? Does anything hurt?”

Jun shook his head, tears still running down his cheeks. “S-sorry it’s… it’s nothing…” He mumbled a little, looking down at his hands. Jason took hold of his cheek and rubbed away the tears, tilting his chin up to look at him.

“Please talk to me?”

“I-I… It… Well… Um…”

Shoma sat down next to Jason, giving him a little peck on the cheek before he gestured to Ituski to come over. “This is my little brother, Itsuki. Itsuki, this is Jason, my… uh…”

“Boyfriend. I’m Shoma’s boyfriend.” Jason supplied. “Nice to meet you.”

Itsuki half smiled too and nodded. “Nice to meet you too.” He then elbowed Shoma lightly and gestured to Jun, who was trying to hide his face and eyes behind his hair. “Who is he?”

“His name is Jun Hwan Cha.” Jun looked up at the mention of his name and Jason pulled him into a light hug. “And… he’s not been in a great place recently, so try not to stare.”

“Daisuke?”

“Daisuke.”

Itsuki smiled a little and offered Jun a bright smile before he swapped to English. “Hi Jun Hwan Cha. I’m Itsuki Uno, Shoma’s little brother. It’s nice to meet you.”

Jun brushed his hair out of his eyes and gave Itsuki a shy little smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Itsuki. You can call me Jun if it’s easier.”

“Jun,” Itsuki repeated, nodding. “I like that. You have a beautiful name Jun.”

“T-thank you…” Jun looked away shyly, taking great interest again in the Pacific Ocean again.

_Holy shit he’s cute._

“Where are Javier and Yuzuru?” Jason asked, frowning as he looked over the docks. “They can’t have gotten lost, can they?”

“I doubt it,” Shoma mumbled. “Probably got distracted kissing each other and forgot to come back and bring us food.”

“My ears are burning,” Jason chuckled as Javier spoke up, raising an eyebrow at them. He handed them one of several bags before he took the others towards the main rooms, “and there should be enough for two each. Nice to meet you, Shoma’s brother. I’m Javier.”

Itsuki smiled as Shoma dived for the bag of pastries and waved at Javier. “I’m Itsuki. Nice to meet you Javier.”

Yuzuru smiled at them and passed his lover the rest of the bags from on the shoreline. “If you eat all of them Shoma, I will kick you.” He warned.

“Or how about,” both Japanese men tensed and Yuzuru’s wrists were pulled firmly behind his back, “I punish both of you for trying to run away with the little slut.”

Shoma moved to be between Daisuke and Itsuki, and Jason cradled Jun in his arms. One look at the Japanese leader sent Jun back to the room, back to the memories of being forced down, and he shattered in Jason’s arms, sobbing and making himself as small as possible. Javier’s eyes darkened, especially at the uninhibited and raw fear in his boyfriend’s eyes. No wonder nothing in Canada had worked on him; he’d never seen this look in his boyfriend’s eyes before. Yuzuru struggled, trying to shake Daisuke off him, but the older man just laughed.

“Oh Yuzuru, has nothing changed since you were fifteen? You couldn’t get away then, and you can’t get away now. So give up.”

Daisuke struck him on the side of his neck, getting his pressure point, and Yuzuru went limp in his arms, as soft and pliant as he had been as an unknowing teenager. Javier drew his gun, training it on the other, and Daisuke just rolled his eyes.

“So quick to make this bloody, Fernandez. No one has to die or get hurt. But you should know that you’re impossibly outnumbered right now.”

Shoma’s heart broke as almost everyone from their compound, the people they had once considered their friends, people they’d laughed with, cried with, treated injuries with, saved from gunfire, carried to medical attention, they all approached the boat with a set look on their faces. Daisuke scooped up Yuzuru as if he was as light as a feather and he threw him over his back. Jason pulled Javier back from jumping Daisuke.

“You’ll all come quietly, if you know what’s good for you.”

Shoma surged forwards, leaving a shocked Itsuki to sit on the bench on the boat. With all the fury in him, Shoma swept Daisuke’s legs out from underneath him. Yuzuru’s body hit the floor, and Javier scooped him up into his arms, holding him close like a vulnerable child. Shoma wrestled with their old boss, shoving him off the edge of the dock and into the water. With his jawline set, Shoma held him under to play with him before he pulled his head out.

“Why shouldn’t I kill you right now?” Shoma hissed, all the pent-up venom and fury coming out in his words.

“Because you’re too weak to kill me.”

Shoma shoved Daisuke back under the water, and it was only Itsuki and Jason pulling him back into the boat that meant that the boss didn’t drown. Gunfire went off, and Shoma gasped as Jason pulled him down behind the deck.

The others ducked down too, with Javier pushing Itsuki and Jun inside away from the scene. He shoved Keiji back in too and, cradling Yuzuru’s limp form, he pressed them both against one of the walls of the boat. As they moved further out, the gun fire continued relentlessly but it started to lessen.

Gunfire still rained around them, but it wasn’t nearly as thick or bad as the number of people aiming for them would have considered. At the lessened sounds, Itsuki, Jun, and Keiji dared to slip out back onto deck. It wasn’t hard to dodge the odd bullets that still managed to make it that far. Jun jumped back into Jason’s arms for a hug, shaking. Javier held Yuzuru carefully, like he was a broken child. Jason kept a hand on Jun’s back, heart breaking at the teenager’s condition. Shoma glanced at Itsuki who just shook his head at him before he glanced at Jun. Shoma gave him a half smile when Yuzuru came to in Javier’s arms, eyes fluttering open. He gasped and cupped Javier’s cheek, tears running down his face.

“D-did you save me?”

“Shoma did,” Javier pressed his forehead to Yuzuru’s and kissed his cheek. “I-I… You’re alive. You’re alive.”

“I-I’m alive,” Yuzuru whispered, kissing Javier’s cheek. “I-I’m alive and with you.”

Javier kissed his forehead before he looked past him to look at the others. “You guys okay?”

Jun nodded, hiding his face in Jason’s shoulder. “I-I’m sorry, I-I’m just being silly…”

“What’s wrong Junnie?”

“I-I…” Jun swallowed thickly, and Yuzuru kept stroking Javier’s curls as the teenager spoke. “Before… this, I-I worked in the fishing industry…”

“Oh,” Jason stroked his hair and kissed the top of his head. “I’m sorry Jun. These days on the water must be awful—”

“I’m fine. I’m glad you’re here with me.” Jun said, trying to be confident for Jason.

Javier giggled and kissed Yuzuru’s lips gently. “I’m glad you’re with me too. I was so worried when he… When he hit you,” Yuzuru paled and Javier kept talking, “and you passed out. I thought he’d killed you.”

“He didn’t,” Yuzuru said softly, stroking Javier’s cheek with the pad of his thumb. “He didn’t. He wouldn’t have killed me, not like that. I’m still here with you and that’s what matters.”

“I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you, Yuzu.”

Yuzuru smiled, hands still in Javier’s curls, when a single gunshot rang out and the older man fell on him. Yuzuru’s smile vanished and his eyes widened as his hand slipped down to Javier’s waist. He pulled away, stomach turning at the sticky red blood that soaked his hand.

“J-Javi…”

“Don’t say anything,” Javier whispered, raising a hand to cup Yuzuru’s cheek.

Tears of sadness and regret filled his normally warm brown eyes, but there was still love in them. Yuzuru burst into tears, cupping Javier’s cheeks too. The blood from his hands went onto the other’s jawline but, in that moment, neither of them cared. Yuzuru held Javier close to him, cradling him.

“Yusu. Please, let me see you. One more time.”

Yuzuru pulled back and looked up at Javier with wide, terrified eyes. “I-I can’t… I can’t do it without you.”

“You can. You’re strong Yusu.”

“No. I-I… I need you Javi.”

“I love you, Yusu.”

“P-please… P-plea—”

Another shot rang out and Javier’s body went limp in Yuzuru’s arms. The dam inside him broke, and Yuzuru burst into tears, sobbing over Javier’s body with his lover’s blood on his hands. Shoma placed a hand on his shoulder but Yuzuru shrugged him off, shaking his head to try and remove the tears.

“W-why… I-it’s not fair! We… We were so close to being free!” Yuzuru sobbed, trying to wipe the tears away from his eyes. Instead, he smeared Javier’s blood on his face.

“Y-Yuzu,” Keiji tried gently, but Yuzuru was hysterical. He hugged Javier’s body close again before he reached for the gun in his lover’s pocket. “Yuzu, no! Then Daisuke will have won!”

“Daisuke won nine years,” Yuzuru whispered, pressing the barrel of the gun against his temple. “I just didn’t realise how much he’d won by until now. And I don’t want my last thoughts to be of Daisuke. I want them to be of my Javi.”

“P-please, Yuzu, there are kids here.”

“They know what world we live in.” Yuzuru whispered. “I’m glad I got to meet you both. Sorry it had to end this way.”

“Please Yuzu—”

“I can’t live without him. He kept me strong from the beginning. I love you so much Javi.” With tears in his eyes, Yuzuru trembled as his index finger rested on the trigger. “Forgive me for everything. Thank you for letting me love you.”

“Yuz—” Shoma was cut off, and Yuzuru’s body slumped down next to Javier’s. Jason gasped, blocking Jun’s view from what had happened, but the teen guessed it and was sick over the side of the boat, shaking. Itsuki helped him into the rooms, guiding the shaky teenager away from the deck. Keiji, Jason, and Shoma all exchanged a look. They swallowed and moved the pair to the edge of the boat.

The Tokyo skyline was gone as they sailed around the rest of Japan slowly. Itsuki and Jun kept well away from the others; they hid away from the deck. Jason, Shoma, and Keiji cleaned up the blood before they, swallowing their sadness down, pushed Yuzuru and Javier’s bodies off the side of the boat.

“I’m sorry,” Shoma whispered, holding Jason’s hand firmly, “I-I’m so sorry Yuzuru.”

“I’m sorry Javier,” Jason swallowed down his feelings. “Thank you. For helping us to save Jun.”

As the pair retreated in, Keiji sat down and watched the Japanese shoreline. Yuzuru and Javier’s bodies had disappeared below the water, and he swallowed thickly. They’d been such a happy group together, laughing and joking, and two of them were gone so fast. Jun was shattered emotionally, and he still needed physically looking at. Itsuki was the least hurt out of all of them, but Shoma would rather die than let his little brother get hurt. The two big losses struck them all severely.

Keiji tried to phone Gabby, but her phone always went to voicemail. He left her messages every day, little things reminding her that he loved her until his phone died.

* * *

 

The group made it Korea without sustaining further tragedies. Itsuki helped Jun out of the boat as Shoma, Jason, and Keiji all climbed out too. A young woman with a very gentle smile met them and met Jun’s eyes first.

“Hello,” she asked in careful English. “Are you the people Mister Orser contacted me about?”

“Brian?” Jason asked, and she looked up to meet his eyes too with her own, soft and gentle brown ones. “He… Yeah.”

“Are you Javier?”

The group collectively flinched and she held up her hands. “I’m sorry. I didn’t… I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Jason said quietly. “I’m Jason Brown. This is Shoma Uno, Keiji Tanaka, Itsuki Uno, Shoma’s little brother, and Jun Hwan Cha. We’re… escaping from Canada and Japan.”

“I’m Yuna Kim.” She bowed her head before she offered Jun a hand. “I will take you to our safe places. Then we can work through therapy plans for each of you. We tailor them to each person individually and do our best to help you.”

“Thank you,” Itsuki smiled, looping his arm around Jun’s waist to support him. “You okay Jun?”

Jun nodded, leaning his head on Itsuki’s shoulder. “I want to go to sleep. I… I’m really tired.”

Itsuki and Yuna helped Jun go into the block of buildings first and the other three followed them. The area wasn’t sterile like a hospital; there was so much green space outside the buildings, and people seemed genuinely smiling around the place. Yuna led them to a block of seven bedrooms connected to a communal area with a kitchen and a separate bathroom.

“These ones will be your rooms. They’re basically like a house. You can choose to cook for yourselves, but there’s a mealtime list on the doors if you’d like them. Numbers you might want to know are on the boards here.” She tapped the list stuck down onto the side boards. “The rooms all connect to this central area, which is basically yours. We do have a key, as management we need one, but we respect your privacy. Each of the rooms lock individually. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to call one of us in. Oh, and I would like to see all of you personally at some point to discuss your plans for moving forwards. It doesn’t have to be today. It can be tomorrow, or when you feel settled in. I will give you some space now and I’ll send someone to bring up the things delivered to us for your arrivals.”

Yuna left and Jun shuffled into a room, shutting the door softly behind him. Itsuki watched him go, swallowing thickly as he chewed on his lip. Shoma shook his head at his younger brother.

“Not now. Not today. Not tonight. Just… Yeah. Give him some space. Show him that you support him, but still give him some space.

Itsuki nodded and took his own room as Keiji did the same. Shoma, slipping his hand into Jason’s, pulled the other into another room. The windows looked out over a grassy area decorated with flowers and trees, and their room had a double bed as well as a wardrobe and a chest of drawers for them. Jason sighed and tugged Shoma down to sit next to him on the bed.

“Are you alright?”

“I-I…”

“You can say no.”

Shoma half smiled and squeezed Jason’s hand. “I-I think I could be a lot worse. I’m not perfect but… You know…”

Jason pulled him close, softly kissing Shoma’s temple. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“If I hadn’t asked you to—”

“Jason, no, don’t say that. I would have wanted to save him anyway. He’s… he…” Shoma shrugged. “He’s so slim, Jason. I-I was terrified that he would break or snap.”

Jason nodded, letting Shoma rest his head against his chest. “I-I’m sorry… About your friend as well.”

“Yuzu made his choice.” Shoma mumbled. “It’s… All we can do is remember him as the man who sacrificed everything he had for the people he loved. He became a murderer for them, Daisuke’s lapdog, Daisuke’s… well…. Yeah, Daisuke’s everything else. He endured so much suffering at the hands of that man just to protect his sister and get her out of the country. He stepped in and took punishments for me when I was younger and newer around here. He’s lied for me and Keiji before. I-I just want to remember him as how he actually was when his walls were down, and not in the twisted way that others will know him. He wasn’t cold hearted. He wasn’t a senseless killer or a mindless whore. He was a complicated, difficult human with so many threads weaving the fabric of his life. One of those threads let him fall in love, and that was the one that he allowed to dictate his life. He had so few choices in life that the ones he could make had such an impact on him. In the end, he chose love.”

Jason nodded, wiping Shoma’s tears away as the other finished his little speech. “I’ll always be here for you Shoma.”

Shoma half smiled at him and hugged Jason tightly. “I-I love you Jason.”

“I love you too.” Jason whispered against his lips. “I love you so much.”

Shoma closed the distance between them, saying everything else he couldn’t find the words for through their kiss.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's no summary for this chapter. There's something I need to say first.  
> I knew from the beginning that this story would get mixed reactions. It targets some pretty hard hitting topics and I've never tried to hide that fact. I've put the tags up from the beginning except one which I only knew about after I'd written the chapter. What I expect is people looking at the tags before they read a fic. What I don't expect is someone telling me that I should lock this because "what if the people themselves read it?" Well, no offense Mr Hanyu if you're reading this, but haven't you got more important things to be worrying about than someone writing something that is so obviously fiction?  
> The problem with these messages, however, has only come through a few days after. I try to keep ahead of my chapters and write at least one in advance if I can so that I can try and upload regularly (although that isn't working so well at the moment because of exams. Sorry). I uploaded soon after I got the messages with a chapter I'd written before, and I was fine about it. And then I had a major drop in confidence when trying to write some of the next few chapters because I took the messages to heart when I shouldn't have done. People who have known me for a while know that I used to be anonymous. That was really hard for me, writing under that, and it really hurt my confidence. Being able to write as myself was so freeing. To lock my fics, to me, would be like going back to anonymous in terms of confidence.  
> So please remember that there is a person behind the screen, behind the words, and you have no right to police their fics. If I want to write this and leave it unlocked, that is my choice. Your choice is whether you read it or not. If Mr Hanyu gets angry and speaks about this fic publicly, I will take the responsibility for it and it's none of your concern.  
> I want to say the biggest, biggest thank you to ForeverDoesntExist for being so supportive. Thank you for being here, and telling me it's okay, and listening to me when I've been so upset.
> 
> Onto my real author's notes. I'm sorry for some of this chapter. It touches on things from other chapters, and it shows how Jun's been affected by everything. I don't really know what else to say about this other than sorry, and please enjoy this chapter (especially at the end). Thank you so much for reading xx

_“You’re so tight. God, you were made for this, you Korean slut.”_

_Jun shifted around, trying to get free from the chains on his ankles and wrists as well as the pain and weight on top of him. Muffled sobs made it through the cloth in his mouth and his throat hurt from the earlier abuse. He flinched away from the hands stroking his hair almost tenderly, hands that then wandered down his chest and further. Jun screamed behind the cloth again as the warmth filled him between his legs._

_“I won’t be long, Chon.” Rough hands cupped at his face, stroking his cheeks after all other contact with his body was gone. A light kiss was placed against his lips over the cloth before the contact vanished. All Jun could feel was the chains on his wrists and ankles, and the cloths in his mouth and over his eyes._

Jun gasped, sitting bolt upright in his bed as he tried to swallow down his scream. He took in the surroundings, that plain walls of his new room, the softness of the cotton sheets under his hands, the light duvet on his lap, the minimal furniture around the room, the pale curtains, his clothes folded up on the chair in the corner, and he willed his heart to slow down. Gingerly, he touched his cheeks, feeling the tears running down his face and neck. He brushed some of his hair out of his face and sat on the edge of the bed, sobs wracking through his slim body.

Every inch of his skin felt so dirty, like there were still hands running over it and caressing every inch that wasn’t theirs to see or touch. The teen stumbled his way out into the hallway, hyper aware of the silence echoing around the room. He glanced over at one of the other doors, fingertips resting on the door handle for a split second, before his stomach turned and he dashed into the bathroom. He heaved, bringing up everything he’d eaten since he’d been saved. Sobs still ran through him and he leaned his head against cool, tiled floor, trying to bring himself back down to reality. He could still feel every touch and every little ghost of hands or lips against his skin.

“Hey,” Jun looked up from the floor to see Itsuki sit down on the floor next to him. The other left a respectful gap between them, close enough to offer Jun support but far enough so as to not stress him out too much. “You alright?”

Jun nodded, lowering his head back to the tiled floor again in silence. Itsuki chewed his lip, watching almost helplessly as the other before him sniffed quietly. Despite being younger than him, Itsuki felt so protective of Jun. He looked broken and had clear bruising on his wrists that poked out from under his sleeves.

“Do you want me to go and get Jason?”

Jun shook his head, curling up further into a ball on the floor. Itsuki had to force himself not to stroke his hair.

“Do you want me to leave you alone?”

Jun shook his head again and choked on sobs before he sat himself up to heave again.

“I’m serious. Do you want me to get someone for you? It doesn’t have to be Jason or Shoma. It can be someone else here.”

“D-don’t go…” Jun whispered, voice cracking as he reached for Itsuki’s hand. “P-please… D-don’t leave me alone.”

Itsuki squeezed his hand gently and nodded, rubbing the back of it lightly with his thumb. “I won’t go. I’m here.” He whispered. “I’m here. I’m right here.”

“I’m sorry if I woke you up,” Jun mumbled, hugging his knees to his chest with his free arm. “I didn’t mean to.”

“You didn’t wake me up. I was still up gaming.”

Jun raised an eyebrow at him, chuckling lightly through his tears. “You were up until… What time is it?”

“Two in the morning.”

“You were up until two in the morning gaming?”

“Of course. I’ve nearly beaten the Elite Four. I couldn’t sleep until I was done.”

Jun gave a very little laugh at that, and Itsuki’s heart fluttered. “Pokémon?”

“Pokémon, yeah. Do you like Pokémon too?”

Jun nodded. “Yeah. When I was little, I’d watch m-my…” His face fell and tears welled up in his eyes again. “M-my… My brother… W-we played it all the time together. Well… H-he played it and I watched. A-and we’d pick the team together, a-and he’d tell me about the moves and everything.”

Itsuki chewed his lip, stroking the back of Jun’s hand still as the other cried openly again. He dared to ask the question.

“Are you two close?”

“W-we… W-we were…”

“You were?”

“Before he went to university and I went to Canada.” Jun wiped at his face again, trying to dry some of the tears.

“Oh.” Itsuki patted his hand lightly with his free one. “I’m sorry. I-I guess I’m lucky that Shoma’s always been close to me.”

“He seems nice,” Jun said lightly, as if away with the fairies.

“Well, I like to think he’s nice.” Itsuki mumbled. “If a bit annoying sometimes.”

Jun hummed, looking up at the small crack in the corner of the bathroom ceiling. “Thank you for talking to me Itsuki. And sorry for distracting you from Pokémon.”

“Don’t worry about it Jun.” Itsuki gave him a little smile before he patted his arm. “Feeling a little better?”

Jun nodded and rinsed out his mouth before he cleared up the bathroom. “A little.”

“Try and get a bit more sleep, okay? You can always talk to me if you need.”

Jun gave him a very small, fragile smile that just about reached his eyes. “Thank you.” He mumbled before he shut himself away in his room again. Itsuki watched him slip back into the shadows, a shadow falling across his face as well, before the door shut with a quiet click. He sighed, turning away to go back into his own room.

Jun sat on his bed, still holding his knees as he leaned back against the headboard. He looked up at the window and pulled back the curtains to look up at the stars. Jun bit his lip hard as fresh tears ran down his face. His thoughts wandered back to the one moment that might have been happy back there.

_“When we make it out of here, because we will, promise me you’ll stay in contact with me, okay?”_

_“Promise.”_

_“I promise too. And maybe you guys could come and visit me some time.”_

_“I promise as well. Oh, I’d love to show you all around Italy. There are some really beautiful parts of the country that I’d be honoured to be able to show you.”_

_“I promise.”_

“I-I’m sorry…” Jun whispered to the stars. “M-Matteo… D-Da Bin… D-Deniss. I’m sorry. Wherever you are, I hope you’re okay. I-I hope they never do this to you.”

Across South Korea, over the Sea of Japan, and on the other side of Japan, two young men were broken out of their prison in Tokyo by a group of European agents and were taken away from Japan. Further along the coast, in Sendai, a young lady threw herself into the Pacific Ocean when the guards around her gave her the smallest opportunity to escape her mental and physical torments.

* * *

 

Jason’s eyes fluttered open as sunlight streamed through the small gap in the curtains and fell onto his face. He rubbed at his eyes and glanced over at where Shoma was still asleep next to him. Jason smiled and moved some of the curls gently out of Shoma’s eyes, enjoying the beauty of his boyfriend in the soft morning light. His lips were slightly parted and he had cuddled up to Jason’s side in his sleep. The other smiled and kissed his forehead.

“Morning Shoma,” he whispered as the other cuddled up closer to him.

“Morning Jason,” Shoma blinked up at him, cupping his cheeks. “How are you?”

“I’m okay. Feel… I feel weird.”

“Me too.” Shoma confessed. “I’ve been living under the same guy for nearly a decade, and… And now…”

“You’re free.”

“Or something like it.” Shoma sat up with the most adorable bedhead, and Jason couldn’t help but giggle at him. “I’m glad I slept well tonight though. I doubt that will happen every night. I’m hungry. When are meal times here again?”

“Not sure,” Jason cuddled him closer. “Why don’t we go and investigate?”

The pair shuffled out of their room, still in their pyjamas, and found Itsuki on his Nintendo in the middle of the room. Jason looked around at their basic home, lacking anything that really showed that it was theirs. Keiji and Jun’s doors were both firmly shut.

“Jun?” Jason knocked on his door lightly. “You okay?”

“Yes,” a very small voice came through from the other room. “Just tired.”

“Alright,” Jason leaned against the door, chewing his lip. “We’re going to see if we can find some food, okay?”

“’Mkay,” a soft reply came through.

“Keiji went out a little while ago,” Itsuki piped up. “I think he went to get food and speak to them about sorting out some sessions for him.”

Shoma nodded, yawning into his hand. “Seems reasonable. It’s too early for this. I need food and then sleep and then maybe some therapy.”

“In that order?”

“In that order.”

* * *

 “Heya! This is Gabby! I’m sorry I can’t come to the phone right now; I probably dropped it somewhere and can’t reach it. Please leave me a message and I’ll phone you back as soon as I can!”

“H-Heya Gabby, it’s me. Just… Just wanted to let you know that we’re here and safely in Seoul… U-um… I hope you’re okay. Call me back when you can. I love you.”

Keiji hung up the phone and rubbed at his forehead with a sigh, tossing it down onto the table. As soon as they’d arrived, he’d charged his phone so that he could check to see if she’d called him, but there was nothing. Not even a text or anything. He groaned, resting his head on the table in front of him.

“Want some company, stranger?” Keiji looked up and half smiled at Shoma. The younger slipped into the seat next to him and patted his arm gently. “How are you coping?”

“I don’t think some of it’s properly sunk in yet. I still don’t believe everything that happened really happened. Maybe tomorrow it’ll hit me.”

“I don’t think I believe it either. H-He… He’s not really gone, is he? I mean, this is just like those times when he’d disappear for weeks on end and then turn up again.”

“Yeah…” Keiji nodded, “he’ll do what he always does and will turn up in a week or so with some new injury that we’ll need to help him treat and a wild escape story.”

They both half smiled at each other, trying not to think about the reality of their situation.

“How’s Itsuki adjusting?”

“Well, he hasn’t complained yet, so he either loves it or he hates it but doesn’t really want to complain too much because of everything else going on.”

“So either way he’ll be okay for the time being.”

Shoma nodded, tracing circles on the table. “I think he’s trying not to cause a fuss for Jun Hwan. I mean, I feel for Itsuki. I basically made him leave the life he knows so that Daisuke can’t get to him, but at what cost? He’s been plunged into another world without really any choice, bless him, and I feel bad for it, but I didn’t really have a choice either. I wasn’t going to leave him in Daisuke’s hands.”

Keiji shuddered, shaking his head. “Yeah, I don’t blame you in the slightest. And I doubt Itsuki blames you either. He just…”

“Needs some time to adjust. I think we all do.”

“How is the kid?” Keiji asked, tone soft and eyes searching Shoma’s face for any sort of reaction.

“Withdrawn.” He said after a long pause. “He didn’t really seem like he wanted to leave his room, even for food.”

Keiji nodded, fiddling with his phone in his hands. “You were right.”

“Huh?”

“We should have interfered sooner, back then. If we’d done that, we would have had a head start on Daisuke and none of this would have happened.”

“Keiji—”

“If we’d just acted before he came in, like you said to, then the kid would be a lot less mentally fucked up, and we’d probably still have—”

“Keiji.” Shoma cut in, face set. “If we’d gone in when I suggested, Daisuke would have come in and tortured us for the rest of our lives. He would have dragged Itsuki into it too, and Yuzuru’s sister, and anyone else he might have thought that we love or care about. If Daisuke had caught us, he would have destroyed us. So you and Yuzuru were right to hold me back then. Well, maybe right isn’t the word I should use. Nothing in that situation was right.”

“Shoma—”

“I mean it. If I’d gone in all guns blazing, and you and Yuzu hadn’t tried to stop me, we’d all be in one of Daisuke’s cells probably facing white torture, or waterboarding, or dry-boarding, or the rack again, or some form of drug torture, that was one of his favourites against Yuzu, whilst making us watch something horrendous being done to... You know...”

“He loved to use that one on Yuzu because of all his allergies,” Keiji nodded grimly. “God, we worked for a sick bastard.”

“We didn’t have a choice,” Shoma rubbed at his forehead. “None of us did. But yeah, Daisuke was a sick bastard.”

“A part of me wishes that I could apologise to everyone that I killed. Everyone that I hurt; I want to tell them that I’m sorry. Not that it would do any good though. Sorry can’t bring back a dead person.”

Shoma nodded. “That’s in our pasts. And, as much as I wish it wasn’t a part of who I am, it is. And from now on, I’m not letting it or anything Daisuke made me do define me. The guilt I will have to live with, but I will not add anymore onto it.”

Keiji studied Shoma carefully. When he’d last looked, Shoma had been a somewhat irresponsible young man who had jumped into every situation without really thinking. Studying him now, Shoma had somehow become much more mature and rational, even if his emotions still got the better of him at times.

“I need to go,” Shoma looked at his hands before he inhaled sharply. “I told Jason I would find a shop or something so that we can buy food and cook something ourselves. I’m not a huge fan of the stuff here. Vegetables? Bleurgh.”

Keiji rolled his eyes and elbowed Shoma lightly. “Remind me again how you’re the older brother?”

“Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much—”

“Shoma!”

* * *

 

“Jun, you need to eat something,” Jason slid the plate of stir-fried noodles, sweet potato and vegetables across the table to him. Jun raised his eyes just enough to meet Jason’s own worried ones. “I’m worried about you.”

“I’m not hungry—”

“Jun, please.” Jason almost begged him. “Listen I… I know you don’t want me to know about it, but I know you’ve been struggling to keep food down recently. Please… Please try. My mum used to say that you can’t be okay in your heart if you’re not okay in here.” He lightly poked Jun’s tummy, hands high enough to not stress him out too much. “Please? At least try.”

Jun obediently picked up the metal chopsticks and picked at the food, eating small bites. Jason’s eyes softened and he rubbed his shoulder lightly.

“Thank you.”

The door crashed open and Jun flinched, shuffling closer to Jason, as Itsuki and Shoma stumbled into their apartment with several bags between them. Jason covered Jun’s ears with a gasp when he heard the colourful language the pair were using, forgetting that Jun didn’t understand Japanese.

“Welcome home?”

“Why didn’t Itsuki and I remember that neither of us can speak Korean?” Shoma grumbled, putting the bags up on the counter. “We were completely clueless in that shop. I don’t even know if we’ve got half the right things. And then we got lost on the way back.”

“I’m sure whatever you got isn’t that… bad…” Jason trailed off when he picked something out of a bag. “What the heck are these?”

Jun raised his head and looked past Jason at the package. “Oh. Crab crisps. They’re nice.”

“Crab crisps?” Itsuki flopped down in the seat next to him. “I’ll have to try them later. Before Shoma eats them all.”

Jun chuckled quietly before he busied himself with the food again. Jason’s eyes widened a little, and Shoma glared at his little brother.

“Don’t speak about me in a language I don’t understand!”

“Learn English then!”

Jason and Jun both burst out laughing when Shoma started to chase Itsuki around the table. The younger laughed as his older brother got more and more irritated with him, chasing them all around the apartment. Jason slipped his arm around Jun’s shoulder as the other finished off his food.

For the first time since Jun had gone from Canada, Jason saw a full and proper smile on his face. He looked just like he had when he first met Jun: a happy teenager without a proper care in the world. Shoma looked grumpy, but cheekily grumpy because of his little brother’s crazy antics. Itsuki’s smile filled the whole room with a happy energy that Jason and Jun couldn’t help but be infected by, and Jason’s heart fluttered at the happiness his boyfriend and Jun were finally experiencing after so long. For a fleeting moment, Jason properly felt like they were happy and content.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So, Jun Hwan, please, take a seat,” Yuna led him into the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hwachae is like a Korean punch but it more recently describes fizzy Korean drinks, and that's what it means in this chapter. Mentions of waterboarding. I don't know when I'll next update. Sorry

“So, Jun Hwan, please, take a seat,” Yuna led him into the room.

Everything was very warm; the walls were a warm, light cream colour instead of a cold white. The pictures on the walls of some of the mountains in South Korea as well as what Jun recognised to be the Toronto skyline gave Yuna’s room a personal touch. Jun sat down carefully on the edge of the pale sofa, looking down at his hands in his lap in silence.

“Can I get you something to drink? Tea? Coffee? Banana flavoured milk? Hwachae?”

“No thank you,” Jun mumbled, still not looking up at her. She sat down on the seat opposite to the sofa.

“Is it alright if we stick to Korean? I think it might make things easier for you if you’re not trying to translate everything in your head too.”

“Okay,” Jun’s gaze still didn’t budge from where it was fixed on the floor.

“Jun Hwan, I’m just going to ask you a few questions. I won’t tell anyone else about what we say in here. Everything is confidential and will stay between us. You don’t need to feel embarrassed or anything about what you say. I won’t judge you.” Yuna gave him a very gentle smile. “Does that sound alright?”

Jun nodded in silence and Yuna sighed, opening up the new file. “Let’s get the standard bit out of the way. How old are you Jun Hwan?”

“Seventeen.”

“And when’s your birthday?”

“October, twenty first.”

“And you’re from Seoul, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “I love Seoul.” She said, trying to encourage conversation. “It’s beautiful. The Myeongdong Cathedral is just lovely to look at. What’s your favourite part of Seoul, Jun Hwan?”

“The Seoul Olympic Park.” He fiddled with his sleeve, still not looking at her.

“Do you like being around nature?”

He nodded, finally looking up. He didn’t look at her, though. Instead, he looked past her and out of the window of her room to watch the trees swaying in the light breeze.

“I like nature too,” she smiled at him. “What else do you like, Jun Hwan?”

“Um… I like… Music? I like EXO and BTS and Hyuk… Um… I-I also like… Animals?”

Yuna’s smile grew at that. “Animals? What kind of animals?”

“U-Uh… Foxes? They’re very beautiful looking. And… Um… I like bunnies too! Their noses when they give little kisses are so cute.”

Yuna couldn’t help but chuckle lightly at Jun’s enthusiasm. “I need to go and get something Jun Hwan. I won’t be a moment.”

She gave him a very small smile before she left the room. Jun’s little bubble of enthusiasm burst and he flopped back against the sofa, staring up at the ceiling with a sigh. In the corner there was a little spidery crack blossoming from the joint between the wall and ceiling. Outside, a tiny little bird landed on the windowsill and looked in at him curiously. Jun gave it a little wave and it tilted its fluffy head at him.

“I’m so sorry about that,” Jun turned away from the window and his eyes widened. There, standing by the doorway, was Yuna with a fluffy brown bunny in her arms. “Here. I’ve brought someone to see you.”

She held the bunny out and Jun took it, cradling it carefully before he stroked its ears lightly. It looked up at him with big brown eyes that melted his heart.

“Thank you,” Jun whispered, cuddling the bunny close, “I-I… T-thank you so much…”

“It’s alright. We have lots of animals around here that people can talk to or hold during a session. So please, enjoy holding Tokki for now. He’s very gentle.”

“I think he’s lovely.” Jun stroked his ears, enjoying the little bunny kisses that Tokki gave his neck and chest.

“Well, you just enjoy holding him as long as you want to.” Yuna sat back down, watching as Jun kept hold of Tokki. “Do you mind if I ask you more questions?”

Jun’s face fell a little but he nodded, stroking Tokki continually.

“How are you feeling?”

“Tired,” Jun mumbled into Tokki’s fur.

“How did you sleep last night?”

Jun’s silence told her everything and her eyes lowered to the file she was taking notes in. “Would you like me to prescribe you some sleeping medication?”

“Would they stop dreams?” Jun asked so quietly that it was almost lost in Tokki’s back.

Yuna shook her head lightly, sighing. “Sorry Jun Hwan, they don’t. Would you like to talk about these dreams?”

Jun turned pale and busied himself with playing with Tokki. Yuna’s face fell and tears welled up in his eyes. “I-it… I-it… They… I-I…” He buried his face in Tokki’s fur, tears running freely. “I-I went back… T-to that room…”

Yuna rubbed his shoulder lightly and he leaned into her touch, holding Tokki close. “I’m so sorry Jun Hwan.”

With his free arm, he hugged her tightly, mindful of Tokki so that he didn’t squish him. Yuna held him carefully in her arms, acting as a silent support for him and someone he could cry on.

“I-I… I-I’m so ashamed,” Jun confessed into her shoulder, and she made him pull back from their hug to look at him. There was nothing judgemental in her eyes; there was only concern.

“Ashamed?”

“I-It… This sort of thing doesn’t happen to boys,” he mumbled, holding Tokki like a baby.

“It does, Jun Hwan.” She cut in seriously. “I’ve spoken to so many men who have suffered what you have. It doesn’t make you weak. It doesn’t make you any less of a boy or a man. It means you have suffered at the hands of someone else. It’s not your fault, and you don’t need to feel ashamed.” Jun avoided eye contact with her but she continued anyway. “Jun Hwan, listen to me seriously. Please. This road will be rough for you. You will have good days, where you feel like you used to. And then you will have bad days. The important thing for you is to never stop talking to people. You seem shy, so this may be difficult for you, but please try and speak to someone about how you’re feeling. It can be me if you want. It can be one of the people you live with. If you need to, you can borrow Tokki and tell him how you’re feeling just to get it off your chest. But don’t let things build.”

Jun nodded, wiping his eyes, and Yuna closed the file. “Do you have anything else you want to talk about? We can have another chat in a few days’ time as well, because we’re nearly out of time here.”

“I-I… Can I borrow Tokki for the rest of the day?”

“Of course,” Yuna smiled and petted the bunny’s ears lightly. “Why don’t you two take a walk outside? The roses are beautiful right now.”

Jun stood up and bowed to her with a very small smile. She watched him go out of the office, whispering little things to the bunny in his arms, before he turned the corner and left her sight, heading out into the gardens.

Jun settled down, lying back on the grass in the shade underneath a large maple tree. Tokki lay on his stomach happily and he ran his hands idly through his fluff. The light breeze ruffled his hair, and kites danced in front of him high up in the sky.

_“What does that one look like?”_

_“Um,” a much younger Jun lay back on the grass, looking up at the clouds, with someone a littler taller than him lying next to him and pointing up at the sky. “It looks like a figure skate!”_

_“And that one?”_

_“That’s Pikachu!”_

_“You’re obsessed with Pikachu, Jun,” his older brother laughed, poking his side lightly. “Is he your favourite?”_

_“Nuh uh! Cubone is my favourite! So cute!” The six-year-old Jun Hwan gushed. The other hugged him tightly before they both lay back, looking up at the clouds together._

_“I like Charmander the best. He’s really cute, and then he grows up to be really strong.”_

_“Strong like you,” Jun smiled at his older brother who placed a little kiss on the top of his head._

_“And strong like you too. You’re going to be super strong Jun.”_

_“One day I want to be as strong as you are.”_

_The pair fell back in silence, looking up at the clouds again, until they turned from fluffy and white to grey and rain bearing. All too soon, the heavens opened and the pair ran back to their home, soaking wet. They couldn’t care less as the ten-year-old helped his little brother jump over the puddles and get back safely._

Jun swallowed his emotions down and focused instead on Tokki, who had fallen asleep on his stomach. The rabbit provided a nice, warm mass of comfort which helped to ground him in reality. He stroked his ears lightly, mind full of everything that he couldn’t let himself start to think about without starting to break.

* * *

 

“What?” Jason asked, mouth half open in shock as he stared at Yuna. “You asked him what?”

“I asked him if he wanted us to do a kit.” She repeated calmly. “He agreed to test for any diseases.” Jason sharply inhaled and Yuna held up her hands to calm him down. “He’s clean. It’s alright. But he’s seventeen and so it’s his choice as to whether he does the rape kit or not.”

“What did he say?”

“No.”

Jason blinked at her in confusion. “He… He said no?”

“You can understand why,” Shoma cut in from next to him. “No one gets caught in that life. The police don’t care. Daisuke paid them all off so that they’d never be a problem. All that kit will do is give him more evidence to show that what happened to him was real, and I don’t think he wants to be reminded of that.”

“But with the physical evidence—”

“Jason,” Shoma squeezed his hand sadly. “The police don’t care about how much evidence you have. It would be a case to be taken up in Japan, and the Japanese police are all under Daisuke’s control, just like how the Canadian police were all under Javier or his boss’ control. Besides, no one would believe him there. No one gets raped in Japan. It doesn’t happen. The few who come forwards are shunned forever unless there’s overwhelming physical evidence and they’re still frowned upon. People in Japan just don’t get raped. Or that’s the mentality. And we can’t go to Japan anyway. Doing that kit would hurt him more than it would help him.”

Jason massaged the bridge of his nose and shook his head, trying to dispel the imminent headache. Jun had been painfully absent. Physically he’d been there with them, sitting with them at the table when they ate and he pushed the food around the plate to make it look like he’d had something, or sitting with them as they watched some mindless anime that Shoma had recommended, but his eyes were constantly empty and, whenever Jason snuck a glance at him, he had a faraway look on his face, as if he was trying to distance himself to a better time. He spoke as little as possible, and the only real sounds that anyone heard from him were the sobs that he tried to muffle with his pillow at night and the heaving in the bathroom when he thought everyone was asleep.

“I just want him to be okay,” Jason mumbled. “Just… I want to snap my fingers and make everything alright again. But I can’t. And he won’t be, and… And it hurts. It hurts watching him be stuck in his own mind like this.”

“He’s been making small improvements in therapy,” Yuna tried to cheer Jason up, “and he’s been opening up a little more. He likes Tokki and being outside, so it’s good that he’s spending time in the sun. Even if he’s a bit quiet, I’m hopeful that he’ll continue to make progress. It’s not easy, Jason, but at some point, he will transcend this. It will be something that happened, not something that defines him and controls his life so much like this. And he has good people around him. As long as you keep reminding him that you’re here for him, he’ll improve. I’m sure he will.”

Jason smiled to her, thanking her quietly before he and Shoma left together. They headed outside into the gardens of the compound, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the bursts of colour that the hibiscus flowers, roses, and lilies provided to contrast the grass and trees. Holding hands, the pair followed the winding gravel path slowly through the archway of trees down to the area next to the pond. They settled on the bench and Shoma squeezed Jason’s hand. In silence, they listened to the rustling of the leaves around them in the light breeze, the twittering of the barn swallows and rosy pipets, and the faint sound of the ripples in the pond as the fish underneath the surface created them. With the dappled lighting around them, Jason found that he could half relax for a moment and just try to breathe.

Itsuki roamed their apartment, swiping one of the tubs of mango ice cream from the freezer as well as a spoon, before he flopped down on the sofa with his Nintendo DS. Starting up Dragon Quest nine, he looked up when he heard the door shutting to see Jun with a fluffy brown bunny in his arms.

“Hey Jun. You alright? You want some ice cream?”

“Are you eating that straight from the tub?” Jun blinked at him in confusion, approaching somewhat hesitantly with the rabbit in his arms.

“Yeah? Why get a bowl dirty when I’m going to finish the whole thing anyway?”

Jun couldn’t help but laugh as he settled down on the sofa next to Itsuki. The Japanese teen shuffled around so that Jun could see the game.

“You ever played this before?”

Jun shook his head, half bouncing Tokki in his arms.

“It’s fun. You have to go around and fight monsters, and save the world. I’m playing it through again.”

“Again?” Jun tilted his head to one side, and Itsuki had to hold back his giggle when Tokki mirrored him. “You’re playing it through again?”

“Of course I am. You want to help me?”

Jun shuffled to look at the screen better, humming a little as he watched Itsuki skilfully manoeuvre the characters through the cities. He watched in awe, still stroking Tokki’s ears, as Itsuki played. He didn’t grow bored; he instead relaxed and didn’t notice as he curled up against Itsuki’s side.

“You should heal.”

“No, I can make it one more attack.”

“If it’s a critical hit, you’ll die,” Jun moved the tub of ice cream from between them and held a spoonful of ice cream out to Itsuki. “You should take the round and heal.”

“Nah, I know what I’m doing,” Itsuki accepted the ice cream before he turned back to the game.

“You really should heal,” Jun countered, kissing the top of Tokki’s head. “Trust me on this.”

Itsuki looked up at him, glancing between his face and the game, before he nodded and listened to Jun. After fully healing his character, the other attacked him and got a critical hit. Had Itsuki not listened to Jun, his character would have died.

“Are you psychic? Or a magician?” Itsuki joked, accepting the next spoonful of ice cream.

“Neither,” Jun said with a little grin. “I don’t know, I just kind of had a hunch that he might get a critical hit on you.”

“We should play this game together more often.” Itsuki laughed, taking the ice cream from him and offering Jun a spoonful instead. “We make a great team.”

Timidly, Jun accepted and smiled. “Mango?”

“Yeah. I made Shoma buy it. It’s—”

“My favourite,” Jun supplied and they both laughed a little as Itsuki nodded too.

“I knew I liked you for a reason,” Itsuki joked before Jun half cuddled up to his side again with a sleeping Tokki in his arms. They carried on playing the game, talking through strategy and desigining more characters together.

When Shoma, Keiji, and Jason returned to the apartment, they found the pair laughing and playing the game with the empty tub of ice cream on the table in front of them, and Tokki still in Jun’s arms. Jason’s heart fluttered at the genuine smiles on their faces. Keiji and Shoma started cooking together, falling almost into a natural rhythm. After dinner, Jason carried Jun into bed from where he’d fallen asleep on the sofa, tucking him in carefully before he smoothed down his hair and half smiled, and he then carried Tokki back to the room full of other rabbits.

“Excuse me,” Jason spoke to one of the people putting the rabbits away in their pens, “but do you think it would be possible to adopt one of these guys permanently for someone?”

* * *

 

“Heya! This is Gabby! I’m sorry I can’t come to the phone right now; I probably dropped it somewhere and can’t reach it. Please leave me a message and I’ll phone you back as soon as I can!”

“Hey Gabby, it’s just me again. I just want to check you’re okay and everything. I miss you. Just… Please give me a call, or a text, or something when you can? Please? I love you. See you soon.” Keiji hung up, swallowing down his sadness as he held his head in his hands, sitting on his bed.

“Well, would you look at that,” Daisuke held the phone up in front of Gabrielle’s face, “I think someone is getting kind of desperate. How about we call him back and talk to him?”

“No!” She struggled before the guards poured more water onto the cloth covering her nose and mouth. Feeling like she was drowning, she continued to struggle in vain as Daisuke watched.

“Why not? Wouldn’t it be fun to let him hear where you are? Don’t you want to let him hear your voice again?”

“P-please, stop this—” more water cut her off as she choked and gagged.

“Stop? I won’t stop. Not until you give me information about the Canadian bastards.” Daisuke waved his hand idly. “Don’t let her die. I want to toy with Tanaka, leave him confused, and then I’ll throw him a sample of what’s going on. Watch him flounder. Torment him for this, and then use her to lure him out of their little hiding spot.”

“Keiji would never fall for that—”

“Love makes people do stupid things,” Daisuke hissed at her, cutting Gabrielle off. “He is no exception. All of them, the three of them will all suffer for this.” He cupped her cheek, smirking. “And you are going to be my key to getting them out from their little sanctuary in Seoul. We’re already working on finding them so I can drag all three of them back, kicking and screaming. I’ll let Keiji watch as I finishing playing with you.” He promised, enjoying her widening eyes in panic. “I’m getting them back if it’s the last thing I do.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason lay awake in his bed, head pounding from the nightmares and painful thoughts that kept him from sleeping, as he heard the sounds of retching from the bathroom. His heart broke as Shoma whimpered and tossed restlessly next to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone. This is probably the last chapter for a while because big scary exams and then a trip abroad with some friends. We'll see what I can do for you all. This chapter contains a little bit of fluff near the middle but also angst at the beginning and end. Thank you for reading and please enjoy this chapter xx

Jason lay awake in his bed, head pounding from the nightmares and painful thoughts that kept him from sleeping, as he heard the sounds of retching from the bathroom. His heart broke as Shoma whimpered and tossed restlessly next to him. He reached out for his sleeping boyfriend, rubbing his shoulder, only to receive a strike straight to the nose as soon as he touched Shoma that sent him reeling back and off their bed. The physical contact and the impact of hitting his face made Shoma's eyes flutter open and he froze in shock at the sight of Jason on the floor with blood running from his nose.

"J-Jason?" Shoma whispered as his breathing became very shallow in panic. "D-did... Did I do this to you? W-Was it me?"

"It's fine," Jason said softly, climbing back up onto the bed to rub his boyfriend's shoulders after searching his eyes for permission. "Are you alright? Do you want to talk to me about how you're feeling?"

"I-I... I'm... I'm... I had a really bad dream." Shoma said softly, tears welling up in his eyes. Jason carefully rubbed his back and shoulders. "About... About Daisuke and life back then... A-and then I woke up and found out that I just hit you... I'm so sorry Jason."

"It's alright. Do you want me to call you a therapist now?"

"Please no," he said softly, "please just hold me for a moment. Wait, let me clean up your nose first, then I'd like to hold you."

"It's fine." Jason said quickly, trying to reassure him, before he kissed Shoma's forehead. "It's stopped bleeding. It can wait. I'll be fine. I just want to make sure you're okay. You don't have to be okay if you're not. Honestly, please tell me how you're feeling so I can try and help."

Shoma nodded, resting his forehead against Jason's chest. "I'm okay. I'll be fine." he whispered before the silence in their room exposed the sounds from the other room. The younger looked up at Jason, eyes wide, as he watched conflicting emotions mix in his boyfriend's widening eyes.

"O-oh... Do you want to go to him?"

"I-I..." Jason swallowed, frowning as his thoughts battled for dominance. "U-uh..."

"You should go to him."

"But you--"

"I'll be alright," Shoma said softly.

"You were just thrashing around in your sleep Shoma, probably reliving some of the worse experiences of your life. I can't leave you. I can't just leave you."

"But Jun is too and..."

Jason swallowed and nodded sadly, before he made up his mind and shook his head. "I-I... I can't just leave you. I... I wish I could go to both of you, and I really don't know what to do, but I can't leave you like this."

In the bathroom, Jun lay back on the cool tiles, shaking and whimpering as tears ran down his cheeks again. After what felt like hours, he pushed himself to his feet and rinsed out his mouth before he slipped out of their apartment and down the hallway. The staff in the animal room recognised him and held out Tokki to him, letting him sit in the corner with the rabbit in his arms for comfort.

Some days were much better than others. Some mornings they could wake up with smiles and happy, and other mornings they'd barely slept at all and had spent the night screaming or vomiting from the nightmares and mental torment in their heads. This was not a good morning for them.

The whole group was suffering. Itsuki stumbled into the then empty bathroom and sobbed, leaning over the sink. His stomach hurt as he thought about Japan and everything they used to have. He broke, resting his head against the tiled wall of the bathroom as he sobbed and cried over the homesickness for a place he could never return to and a life that he couldn't ever have.

In his room, Keiji leaned his head against the glass of the window, swallowing down his fear. It had been weeks since they'd arrived in Seoul and he hadn't heard a word from Gabby. His stomach hurt thinking about her and his heart twisted in worry.

"Heya! This is Gabby! I'm sorry I can't come to the phone right now; I probably dropped it somewhere and can't reach it. Please leave me a message and I'll phone you back as soon as I can!"

Keiji hung up, tears running down his face as he sobbed over his missing girlfriend. Worry made him nauseous as his mind filled in the absolute worst-case scenario.

"Yuzuru," he whispered out of the window, looking up at the stars. "If, by some miracle, you made it to heaven, please make sure she's okay. Please. I-I... I need her as much as you need Javier. Please, if you can do anything, please help. I want to see her again, I really do. I-I... I can't lose her, Yuzuru. Please. Please help us."

When morning finally came, Jason shuffled out of his and Shoma’s room. He turned on their kettle almost robotically before he set out bowls like normal. Itsuki shuffled out of his room too and helped Jason in silence, bags under his eyes and skin more pale than normal. He took in Jason’s bruised nose before he hastily averted his eyes, taking in his older brother’s worse for wear state too. Keiji then came out of his room and helped them set things up. One door remained firmly shut, and Jason exchanged a look with Shoma before he knocked on it.

“Jun?”

Silence.

“Jun Hwan?”

Nothing.

“J-Jun? A-are you okay?” Jason leaned against the door. “Please talk to me…”

The silence was too much for Jason and he forced the door open. When he saw the messy sheets, thrown back duvet, and no sight of Jun, he collapsed to his knees and burst into tears. Shoma knelt down next to him, jaw set.

“N-no… P-please, no, not again,” Jason sobbed.

“I-I’m sure he’s around here somewhere.” Shoma rubbed at his back, trying to soothe him. “I-I’m sure of it. I’m sure. M-maybe he’s gone to pet the rabbits again?”

Jason nodded, letting Shoma pull him to his feet. In their pyjamas still, they made their way down the corridor to the animal room. Jason, in the doorway again, collapsed with relief when he spotted the slim teen curled up asleep on the floor with most of the bunnies from the room around him or on him protectively. Tokki sat in his arms happily, and Shoma let out a soft sigh of relief.

“He’s okay Jason.”

“Y-Yeah… H-he’s… H-he’s okay…” Jason let out a sob of relief and Shoma pulled him into a hug, rubbing his shoulders. “He… God, I was panicking so much. I thought he—”

“I know,” Shoma said gently. “But he’s here. He’s here and it’s alright.”

After waking Jun up and taking him back to their room, the five ate in awkward, uncomfortable silence, before Keiji, Jason, and Shoma left for their sessions. Itsuki settled on the sofa with his games again, and Jun finished washing up. He seemed like a lost puppy to the other, looking over at his room with half a frown.

“You alright?” Itsuki asked him, getting Jun’s attention as he looked over his console. “You look like you’re lost.”

“Yeah, I just don’t know what to do right now.”

Jun sat down on the end of the sofa and Itsuki set down his console. “What do you want to do?” the younger asked, watching him almost carefully for a reaction. “When we were bored, Shoma and I used to put on random music and redecorate our rooms together. And we’d each be allowed to do one thing to the other’s room that they couldn’t undo until next time. Want to try that?”

Jun blinked at him for a second, almost in confusion, before a smile blossomed across his face and he nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good actually.” He swiped Itsuki’s unlocked phone. “But I’m choosing the playlist.”

“Dammit,” Itsuki saved his game and pulled himself off the sofa. “Don’t pick bad music. Shoma always did.”

“You’ll love it.” Jun laughed, and his EXO playlist started blaring out of the phone. Itsuki just rolled his eyes and accepted it.

“Fine. But if you pick the music then we get to decorate your room first.” Itsuki threw the door open before Jun had time to protest. “Wow, this room is so plain. We need to make it more you.”

To the tune of Call Me Baby, the pair unpacked the boxes sent over by Brian that Jun had been somewhat reluctant to open. Itsuki hung up his clothes in the wardrobe, half dancing around the room, as Jun pinned up his photographs of his family and Jason on the board above his bed.

“You have a lot of Gucci.”

“It’s comfortable and fashionable.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you dress like a very fashionable lesbian.”

Jun stuck his tongue out at him and arranged his pile of headphones neatly on his desk before he started on his books on the shelf. “I’m taking that as a compliment!”

Itsuki’s heart fluttered and he opened up the next box. He hummed, idly unrolling something before he dropped it in shock.

“What’s up?” Jun asked him, half frowning at the rolled-up poster on the floor. “Oh—”

“Sorry, when were you planning to tell me that you met TVXQ and got them to sign your poster?” Itsuki bounced around him, holding the sheet up. “Dude! That’s… What the hell?!”

“My brother and I went to see them together before he left for university,” Jun shrugged, taking the poster back and slotting it into the frame Brian had carefully wrapped up for him before he hung it up on the wall. “It was amazing. They’re amazing.”

“I’m so jealous of you right now, I don’t think you properly understand.” Itsuki shook his head with a little smile, going back to sorting through Jun’s things. “Take me with you next time.”

“Sure,” Jun half laughed, arranging the plushie Cubone and Charmander on his bed. He half smiled, swallowing down a little lump of emotion, and Itsuki looked at them over his shoulder.

“Your room feels more like you now, huh?”

Jun nodded, taking in all their work. The boxes of his stuff had been piled up in the corner before, and the room had been very plain and as bare as it could be. Now, however, the walls had been decorated with a pinboard full of pictures from Jun’s life, posters of some of his favourite K pop groups, and Itsuki had strung up his fairy lights above his bed for him. The plushies sat neatly on his bed, along side his folded pyjamas, and his room seemed lighter now to him than before. It felt more like home.

“My thing that you can’t get rid of until we do this again now,” Itsuki pinned up a photo of him on the pinboard, at the bottom just below a photo of Jun and Jason in Toronto together, “you’ve got to keep that picture up there.”

“I think I’d want to keep it there anyway,” Jun said with a bright smile before he turned. “Come on. Your room next!”

“Given your clothing choices, I’m going to regret this.” Itsuki mumbled under his breath.

* * *

 

Later that day, in the evening, Jason returned to their shared apartment. As he fished around for his keys in his pocket, he paused for a second and listened. There, on the other side of the door, was unmistakably the sound that had been missing since they’d realised what the business in Canada was.

Jun was laughing.

Jason opened the door and his face softened. Itsuki and Jun were dancing around the kitchen as they attempted to cook dinner, listening to Jun’s trashy playlist full of K-pop songs that he and Itsuki sang along to badly. Jun laughed as the other used his spoon as a microphone dramatically, lip-synching to the rapid-fire Korean of EXO’s Growl. Jun laughed, eyes bright and full of life, before he stole the spoon and lip-synched the next verse. On the sofa, completely oblivious to the teenagers messing around to the music, was a sleeping Shoma, curled up on himself with Itsuki’s abandoned Nintendo on the table next to him, a blanket half over him, and a plushie Cubone tucked into underneath his arm.

“You two okay?” The pair of teenagers whipped around and Jun dropped the spoon in shock. There, in the doorway, Jason was carrying a beautiful dark brown bunny that curled up in his arms against is chest. “You alright Jun?”

“He’s beautiful,” Jun whispered, moving around the table to get a better look at him. Jason handed the bunny to him and, like a duck to water, it took to Jun. The teenager was soon being attacked by the lightest bunny kisses on his neck.

“He’s yours now.” Jason said with a soft smile, and Jun’s eyes lit up, “so you can name him, and—”

“J-Hope.”

Jason blinked at him for a moment. “Jun, you can’t name your bunny after a BTS member.”

“Jimin.”

“Jun.”

“Rap Monsta.”

“This is getting ridiculous.”

“Pikachu?” Itsuki suggested, and Jason rolled his eyes.

“Kai!” Jun held the bunny up with a smile.

“That one’s EXO, isn’t it?”

“No, I’ve got it!” Jun kissed the top of the bunny’s fluffy head. “Suho! Suho is the best name for him!”

Itsuki smiled and lightly stroked Suho’s ears as Jun cuddled him close. Jason’s eyes softened as the teens cuddled Suho and petted him. He took over dinner preparations as Shoma sat up with adorable bedhead again.

“Smells good,” Shoma mumbled in Japanese to Jason.

“Nearly done. Your brother and Jun did most of it.”

Shoma nodded, smiling at where the pair were playing with Suho on the floor together with warm smiles and bright expressions.

* * *

 

"I will ask you one more time," Daisuke hissed, pulling Gabrielle's head back by her hair. "Where are they? Where in Seoul are they?"

“I don’t know,” she spluttered out, blood running from the multitude of cuts on her face and staining the top of her torn shirt. “I told you that already, I don’t know!”

“Liar. Tell me. Where. In. Seoul. Are. They?”

“I don’t know!” She thrashed, trying to get free from him. The guards restrained her more, holding her firmer against the chair than her restraints could. “I don’t know where they are other than Seoul!”

Daisuke’s eye twitched before he quickly schooled his features and circled her chair again. “You do know. You’re lying to me. Every more second you lie, I will torture your boyfriend for when I get him back. Does that sound fair Miss Daleman?”

“Leave Keiji out of this!”

A guard broke her nose, earning more blood running down her face, and Daisuke smirked. “Leave Keiji out of this? Why, it was Tanaka who brought you into this mess. I’m not leaving him out of this. You, my dear, are the bait in my little trap. So, tell me. Where is he?”

“I’d rather die than tell you.”

“That can be arranged,” Daisuke smirked at her.

Three gunshots rang out and Daisuke grimaced as a bullet grazed his left ear. Both guards in the room dropped down, blood pooling underneath their heads on the floor. Daisuke turned, holding his own gun up to see Patrick, Kaetlyn, Tessa, Scott, Nam, Keegan, and Brian in the doorway. All except the oldest had their guns raised and trained on the mafia leader. Daisuke studied them all for a moment, eyes narrowing.

“Drop the gun,” Patrick hissed. “Drop it now before I fill you with bullets.”

Daisuke dropped the gun on the ground in front of him before he fiddled with his watch and then held his hands up. “I’m unarmed. It’s nice to see you again Patrick. How’s sleeping after deprivation?”

Patrick’s eyes burned with thunder as they narrowed and trained on Daisuke. His finger trembled as he held it over the trigger, willing himself to stay calm. “Better now that I haven’t seen you for a while.”

“And how is Fernandez doing?”

Brian bristled slightly and Daisuke chuckled slightly at that. He took note of each of the face looking at him and the guns trained on him as well. Kaetlyn was unmoving and hyper focused; she didn’t even blink as she kept her gun firmly trained on him. Scott and Tessa had unconsciously moved to be almost back to back as they faced Daisuke together. Nam held his handgun with both hands, taking several deep breaths that didn’t go unnoticed to Daisuke. Keegan swallowed, gun slightly shaking as he tried to keep his focus.

Brian, however, was the one that Daisuke studied for the longest. The older man’s eyes flicked between each of the others, watching as they held their ground, before they slipped to Gabrielle’s spluttering form tied to the chair. His face was pale, but he was still holding his ground and composure in a way that screamed experience to the Japanese man. Brian scanned Gabrielle, blinking only once in the agonising silence that stretched between everyone in the room, before he met Daisuke’s eyes.

“I’m freeing her.” He said firmly. Daisuke held his hands up higher, half smiling as he stepped back to allow Brian space.

“Be my guest. Nice to finally meet you, Mr Orser I presume? Daisuke Takahashi. I’m sad that I’ve never made your acquaintance before, but I’m glad that I finally got the chance to—”

“Shut it,” Patrick hissed, cutting Daisuke off. “You’re almost as annoying as your henchman.”

Daisuke blinked at him, feigning confusion as he half watched Brian untie Gabby and guide her behind the rest of the group, supporting her as much as she needed him. “My henchman?”

“Hanyu.” Patrick smirked. “I had a lot of fun breaking him, you know. You should have heard his screams.”

“I have.”

“And the information he spilt to us. Worth more than his weight in gold.”

“He doesn’t weigh that much.”

Patrick glared at him, raising his other hand to support and steady his hold on his gun. “Do you ever not have something to say?”

“I’m the boss. It’s my job to have something to say that others listen to. You wouldn’t know that as a little lapdog, would you Chan?”

Kaetlyn, without moving her eyes from Daisuke, placed a soothing hand on Patrick’s shoulder as Tessa took charge. “Come with us quietly and no one else has to get hurt.”

“Except for my two guards who have made a mess of my carpet.”

“Well, you won’t have to look at the carpet anymore. You’ll be in Canada with us, far away from Sendai and Japan.” Tessa almost sounded comforting. “It’ll be much easier if you just comply, Mr Takahashi.”

“Oh, I don’t think it will be much easier Miss Virtue.” Daisuke looked at his nails, bored. “You see, then I’ll have cleared this building for nothing.”

The group blinked at him in confusion. “What do you mean?” Scott asked, voice not breaking.

Daisuke looked up at him with an expression resembling a snake about to strike or a serial killer with a cornered victim. “Oh, Mr Moir, it’s simple. You see, I triggered an evacuation signal,” he gestured to his watch, inching away from the Canadians towards the wall, “and so the building is empty except for us. And, when they find it later, they’ll find eight bodies here.”

Daisuke slammed a hand against the wall and slipped into one of the passageways, sliding the panel back behind him and locking it with a metallic click. Dread dropped in their stomachs simultaneously when the doors and windows all locked around them and a robotic voice spoke up.

“Initiating building destruct button. Ten. Nine. Eight.”

Scott pulled Tessa into his arms and cradled her head to his chest, standing tall. It would do nothing, they both knew that, but, after working together for as long as they had, it felt only right to them that they should die like this and together. Kaetlyn pulled Gabrielle into her arms and rubbed her back, trying not to think as the counting continued. Keegan and Nam exchanged looks, filled with regrets and unspoken words that they wished they’d just said when they had the chance. Patrick’s rage spilt over and he shot at the wall panel Daisuke had disappeared behind in frustration. Brian looked out of the window of Daisuke’s office, looking over the city of Sendai, and, in all the years the group had known him, they finally saw a tear run down the side of his face.

“Three. Two. One.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Okay, Shoma, we need to talk.” Jason patted the bed next to him. Shoma sat down, raising an eyebrow at him in confusion. “Listen, as adorable as you look in my shirts and jumpers that are clearly way too big for you, I think it’s time you buy some more clothes that are your size.”
> 
> Shoma rolled his eyes, pouting as he fiddled with the sleeve of Jason’s large grey hoodie on him. “But I like this. It’s warm and comfy and smells of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone. Here is the next chapter of this. This story is my main project now so I will do my best after/between exams to work on this and upload more chapters. This chapter is a mix of fluff and not fluff. I'm sorry for everything that happens later in the chapter. Please please mind the fic warnings for this chapter! They haven't changed but some of them are more relevant here.  
> Once again, thank you so much for reading this fic and please enjoy at least some of this chapter xx

“Okay, Shoma, we need to talk.” Jason patted the bed next to him. Shoma sat down, raising an eyebrow at him in confusion. “Listen, as adorable as you look in my shirts and jumpers that are clearly way too big for you, I think it’s time you buy some more clothes that are your size.”

Shoma rolled his eyes, pouting as he fiddled with the sleeve of Jason’s large grey hoodie on him. “But I like this. It’s warm and comfy and smells of you.”

Jason half smiled and shook his head, sighing. “Come on. Tomorrow morning, after breakfast, you and I are going into the city and we’re going shopping together. Deal?”

“Deal,” Shoma grumbled, lying down next to Jason before he cuddled up against his side and kissed at his neck lightly.

In Jun’s room next door, lit by the string of fairy lights above his bed and Itsuki’s Nintendo, the pair sat on the elder’s bed together. Jun held his Cubone plushie close to his chest, smiling as Itsuki battled the Elite Four, and Itsuki held the Pikachu plushie with his free hand close to his chest. Balanced on both of their legs was Suho, curled up and sleeping on the pair of them.

 “Hey, Itsuki?” Jun whispered over the plushie, running a hand lightly on Suho’s ears.

“Yeah?” The other said quietly. “Do you want to do the next battle? Tell you what, I’ll name the next pokemon I catch after you.”

“It’s not that,” he whispered finally after a long pause. “I-I… I was wondering something.”

“What is it? You can ask me anything you know.” He set the game aside and gave Jun his undivided attention, stroking Suho’s ears too and brushing fingertips with Jun.

“Itsuki, I-I… Um… I-I don’t know how to say this so I…”

“Take your time.” Itsuki said gently.

Jun swallowed and took hold of Itsuki’s hand, stroking the back of it with his thumb very softly. Jun’s hands were smooth where Itsuki’s had small callouses from his hockey playing. Itsuki’s eyes were wide and soft, containing nothing but kindness. Jun’s swirled with emotion and tears he was scared to spill.

“You okay? You’re not hurt, are you?”

“N-No, I just… I’m just… I… I have something I need to tell you. A-and… A-and please don’t interrupt until I’m done.”

Itsuki nodded, holding his hand gently and with a light smile. “Of course. And please don’t feel you have to say anything.”

Jun nodded before he swallowed and took a moment to just breathe. “I-I… I want to tell you. I… I-Itsuki I… I’m not… I-In Japan they… I’m not… I’ve… They…” He rubbed at his forehead, tears running freely down his face. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologise. It’s alright. Take your time.”

Jun nodded, eyes lowering to their joined hands. “Itsuki, I’m... Not clean anymore. I-I… I-I was used…” He wiped at his eyes and sniffed quietly. “But, Itsuki, I… I… I really like you. A lot. And, if you don’t feel the same way or you hate me for this I-I understand. I just… thought you should know how I feel…”

Itsuki cupped his chin gently, raising his head to look in his eyes. Tears stained Jun’s cheeks, and Itsuki wiped some of them away with his thumb.

“P-please say something,” Jun whispered.

“Jun, I… Thank you. For trusting me with this. It doesn’t change how I feel about you Jun. I think I’m in love with you.”

“Itsuki, will… will you kiss me?”

“Tell me if it’s too much, okay?”

Jun nodded and Itsuki held his cheeks gently before he pulled him closer to him gently. Jun placed his hands on Itsuki’s shoulders before he hesitantly kissed the other. After a few moments of adjusting, Jun deepened the kiss and Itsuki’s hands held onto his waist carefully. In the low light of Jun’s fairy lights and the night, they cuddled up together before they fell asleep in each other’s arms with Suho tucked in between them.

* * *

 

In the main area, Itsuki had claimed the sofa as his own and was half watching the anime that he wanted to watch as he and Jun ate their toast together; the older had Suho settled on his lap with a little smile. Jason poured himself a bowl of cereal and Shoma was glaring at the box covered in hangul like it had personally offended his family, trying to decode it and understand the language.

 “It’s Chex,” Jun set down his empty plate on the counter as looked over Shoma’s shoulder at the box, humming slightly. “Cookies and cream flavoured. It’s really good.”

Shoma’s patience snapped and he tossed the box across the counter, glaring at the teenager and voice rising in Japanese. “I don’t understand enough English either to get what you’re saying! I’m tired, miss Japan, and just want to go home! But I can’t, so give me a break.”

Jun’s eyes widened in horror and he stumbled back as if he’d been slapped across the face. Itsuki tripped over himself getting up off the sofa to give him a firm hug, cradling his head and letting him hide his face in his shoulder. Suho was in his free arm and Jun instinctively pulled him into his arms. Jason rushed to join both of them, conflicted as he stood between Jun and Shoma.

“I-I… I’m so sorry…” Shoma started in English, backing away from the teenager who had dissolved into tears into his brother’s shoulder. “I-I didn’t mean…”

“Jun,” Jason said very gently, rubbing his arm, “Shoma didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“I-I know,” Jun nodded, still sniffling. “I-I know, I just—”

“I’m so sorry,” Shoma repeated, “I-I… I’m so sorry. I… You… I… I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“It’s okay,” he mumbled, “sorry. I know you didn’t mean to. I just… I…”

Jason rubbed Jun’s arm with a soft sigh. “It’s alright Jun. We understand.” He then gave Shoma a hug and rubbed his back, swapping to Japanese. “I don’t blame you. We’re all a little on edge.”

“I shouldn’t have snapped,” he whispered.

“It’s alright. It’s not your fault. We’re all on edge.” Jason said into his hair. “Just… Just give him some space, okay?”

Shoma nodded, hiding his head in Jason’s shoulder as Itsuki held Jun close, whispering comforting words to him. The phone in the room rang, breaking the awkward, painful silence.

“Hello?” Jason answered it, holding Shoma close to him with one hand rubbing his shoulder to comfort him. “Oh, yeah, he’s um… Can I take a message for him?”

The others in the room watched Jason as he finished speaking and hung up the phone. Still holding Shoma close to him, he turned to the other two and half smiled. “Jun? Apparently, there’s a visitor for you. Yuna said she’d meet you at her office if you wanted so that you wouldn’t have to go on your own.”

“Did she say who?” Jun asked in the tiniest voice. Itsuki stroked his hair, studying his expressions.

“She said it’s a surprise. They’re no one to worry about and she promises that you’ll be safe. Especially with her going with you.”

“I think you should go Jun,” Itsuki said to him softly. “We’ll have our date tomorrow, okay?”

Jun gave him a light kiss to the cheek before he handed him Suho. “Will you look after him for me? Please? Just until I get back.”

“Of course.” Itsuki smiled and gave him a hug. “Of course I will. Take care today, okay? And then we can go—”

“To the Olympic park tomorrow,” Jun squeezed his hands. “You’ll love it. I know you will.”

Itsuki kissed his forehead gently with a soft smile. “I’ll see you when you get back then.”

Jason walked Jun down to Yuna’s office, rubbing his back to try and help him stay calm. She was waiting outside for them both, and she smiled when she saw Jun.

“You have a visitor. Would you like Jason to come with you? I promise you that it’ll be alright and I won’t let anything happen to you. He can come with you if you’d like.”

Jun looked up at Jason and half smiled. “Do you mind coming with me Jason? For now? I’d just really like to have you with me.”

“Of course,” Jason smiled and rubbed his shoulder. “I’ll always be here if you need me.”

Yuna smiled and led them down the corridor to the main foyer of the complex. Jason recognised it; their home’s post sat in the shelves on one side and the path through out to the main city. Sitting on one of the dark blue fabric padded chairs that were placed in a neat semi-circle around the main desk was a slim man with a similar build to Jun. His hair was dark too, similar to Jun’s, and he had dark eyes that looked very similar to the young man’s eyes. The other looked up, eyes widening when he caught sight of Jun half hidden behind Yuna.

“Jun Hwan?”

“M-Minho?” Jun’s eyes widened as he stuttered on his words. The pair all but ran across the room to meet the other and Jun was enveloped in a tight hug from the other. He hid his face in Minho’s shoulder, letting out quiet whimpers and sobs around his Korean words. “I-is… It’s you, right?”

“It is,” he rubbed Jun’s back and kissed the top of his head. “I’m here. I’m here for you. Yuna contacted me and asked if I wanted to meet you.”

“Did she tell you what happened?” Jun asked softly, arms still thrown around the other to hold him close.

“She didn’t tell me exactly what happened, but she said that you got hurt.” He held him and kissed his forehead softly. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to protect you Jun.”

“You’re here,” he whispered, smiling through his sobs. “You’re here and that’s what matters the most.”

“I won’t let you get hurt again,” he promised, “I swear. I swear I swear I swear I will be the best big brother and look after you.”

“You’re already the best big brother,” Jun whispered, finally stepping back and wiping his eyes with a conflicted expression on his face. “I-I… I-I need… I need to tell you something though. I-I’m so sorry, I—”

“If it’s about what Yuna told me, you don’t need to apologise for anything. She said you’d feel ashamed, scared, worried, hurt, or something like that if you wanted to tell me. You don’t even need to tell me if you don’t want to.” He held Jun’s hands in his own and wiped away his tears with the other. “You don’t need to tell me anything.”

Jun nodded, struggling to meet his eyes. Minho squeezed his hand with a little smile. “Do you maybe want to go for a walk together? In Seoul? We could go to the park, then get some lunch and go shopping?”

“I’d like that,” Jun smiled before he turned to Yuna and Jason, swapping to English. “I’ll see you this evening, Jason. Please can you tell Itsuki I—”

“Of course,” Jason smiled. “Have fun today, okay?”

Jun hugged Jason tightly. “Thank you. For helping me. And for being here and just looking after me and everything.”

“You deserve happiness Jun,” Jason said with a soft smile. “Now, go and have fun. And remember to pick out the perfect place for our café!”

“I will,” Jun laughed, properly laughed, and Jason’s heart fluttered as the teenager slipped his hand into his brother’s and waved to Jason before the pair left.

 

The pair walked through the Olympic park together, passing the line of flags fluttering in the cool breeze before they passed underneath the decorative gate structure, following the water’s edge. Trees lined the edges of the walkways, and other people walking and those on bikes milled around. Minho and Jun stood by the Olympic flame in a comfortable silence, hands brushing against the others.

“I always forget how much I love coming here with you.”  Minho mumbled, looking at his brother as Jun focused on the flame. It had been nearly six months since they’d last seen each other properly, and Jun had changed so much since then. He’d become slimmer, lost some of his baby fat on his cheeks, and his eyes had much less life in them than they’d had before he left. He seemed lost, like he didn’t quite know how to hold himself anymore or like he was trying to make himself smaller despite being tall and slim. Jun had been shy as a child, but this wasn’t shyness. This was something else.

“I missed being here with you,” Jun mumbled, focusing on the flame instead of looking up.

“Want to get something to eat? I know a great restaurant around the corner from here.”

Jun slipped his hand into Minho’s, giving him a smile that was only a ghost of the smiles he used to give. “I’d like that.”

They walked towards the restaurant in comfortable silence again, and Minho slipped his arm around Jun’s shoulders. After settling down at the table in the corner and ordering food, Minho tilted his head at Jun across the table.

“You alright? You look kind of pale. Is there something bothering you Jun?”

The teenager looked up for a moment, a flash of something going through his eyes before he turned them down and focused instead on stirring his drink with his metal straw. Their bowls of food were placed in front of them, between them, before they were both given metal chopsticks to eat with.

“It’s um… Not really talk for over lunch,” Jun mumbled before he busied himself with a mouthful of food.

“You’re hurting inside. I want to be there for you again Jun. I want to be someone you can open up to, just like when we were little.” Minho set down his chopsticks and squeezed his hand. “I just want to be able to help you, Jun.”

Jun half smiled at him before he squeezed his older brother’s hand back. “Are you sure you want to know? It’s… It’s… Not very nice.”

“I need to know what’s going on in my little brother’s mind. Please let me help you.”

Jun forced himself to swallow down his food before he set his own chopsticks down and took a long, slow, deep breath. “I-I… I-it’s… I… I-I was kidnapped from where I worked in Canada.” He whispered the last part, looking down at his drink instead of up at his brother.

“Y-you what?” Minho asked, eyes wide as they searched his face for signs of hurt. “Jun, I’m… I’m so sorry. Did they…?”

Jun nodded, biting his lip hard. “I’m so sorry. If… if you want to go and are ashamed of me, I understand—”

“I’ll never be ashamed of you,” Minho whispered, moving some of the hair out of his little brother’s eyes. “Ever. It’s not your fault. Other people might say it is, but it really isn’t. I promise. You don’t need to be ashamed. You… I love you. You’re my little brother. Of course I love you. This won’t change anything.”

“Are you sure?” Jun couldn’t help but ask. “I’m di—”

“Don’t say you’re dirty.” Minho cut him off seriously. “I mean it. You’re not dirty. Whoever did this to you is dirty. It will hurt, I know it will, but you’re the strongest person I know. Yuna will help you get through it, and your friend, and I will help you too. You’re not alone in this Jun. We’re all here for you, and we’re here to help you.”

Jun flopped back in his seat, tears of relief running down the side of his face. “T-thank you—”

“You don’t have to thank me either. I’m here for you, always. Now, how about we finish up here and then go and get some ice cream? I happen to know somewhere that does the best mango ice cream in the world.”

* * *

 

“Thank you for today,” Jun smiled up at Minho as they walked along the streets, the glowing street lights illuminating half their faces. “I… We can do this again sometime, right?”

“Of course we can.” Minho squeezed his shoulders. Every week we can go out for lunch together or something. Spend the day together and enjoy being together again.”

“When will I see you again after today?”

“Next week? You’ll have to tell me how your date goes with Itsuki.” He teased, chuckling as Jun flushed bright pink, even in the low light.

“You’re so bad sometimes!”

“But you love me, right?”

Jun grinned and squeezed his brother’s hand. “Of course I love you. You’re my brother. The best person in the world.”

“I love you too. Because you’re my brother and the best person in the world.”

Jun smiled up at him with a brightness and a sparkle in his eyes that had been dimmed when Minho first saw him. They paused under a streetlight, smiling at each other when Minho’s phone cut them off. He let go of Jun and sighed.

“I’d better just take this. Then I’ll walk you back home.” He turned away from Jun, raising his phone to his ear. “Hello?”

Static on the other end met him. “Hello?” He tried again. “Who is this?”

After receiving nothing but static, Minho shook his head and hung up. “Sorry about th— Jun?” He scanned the deserted street, looking for the other. “Jun Hwan? Jun! Where are you?”

Minho ran down the street, calls for Jun growing more and more frantic as no sign of Jun appeared, before he got to the reception of Yuna’s safe houses. Still in shock, he half stumbled into the reception only to be greeted by a confused Yuna and a concerned Jason.

“Where is he?” Jason asked softly and Minho almost fell into a chair.

“I don’t know. I had to take a call, took my eyes off him for one second, and—”

“Oh God, please no,” Jason held onto the back of one of the chairs to steady himself. “I-I… No…”

“Call in everyone from that room,” Yuna told one of the others with a grim expression before she patted Jason’s back. “It’s alright Mr Brown. Please, please just breathe. We’ll get the local police looking for him as soon as possible.”

Itsuki, Shoma, and Keiji were led into the reception area, with Itsuki holding Suho in his arms. The three sat down, looking up at Yuna as if to ask her silently what to do. She chewed her lip, nodding to one of the receptionists.

“The good news is that the police are now looking for him. They’re scouting the local area. He can’t have gone far, and—”

“Yuna,” she looked up, frowning at the phone offered to her, “the person on the line requested Mr Uno, Mr Tanaka, and Mr Hanyu.” Shoma and Keiji exchanged a look and Jason slipped his arm around Shoma’s shoulders.

Yuna took the phone and handed it to Keiji. He put it onto speaker and cleared his throat. “Hello?”

“Hello Mr Tanaka,” Keiji shivered and Shoma flinched next to him at Daisuke’s voice. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Not long enough.” Keiji hissed. “Why are you calling us?”

“Oh, Keiji, why so cold? We used to be friends.” Shoma could hear the mock pout in Daisuke’s voice.

“Used to be. Until we snapped and decided that you selling a child for money and forcing us to watch was too much.”

“Oh, so sanctimonious.” Daisuke huffed. “Maybe I won’t tell you the information then.”

“Tell us.” Shoma hissed. “Now.”

“Shoma, nice to hear from you too. How’s dear sweet Itsuki?”

“Fuck off.”

“So cold as always. Now I can see why Yuzuru is my favourite out of the three of you.”

“He killed himself.” Keiji spat down the line. Daisuke’s sharp intake of breath didn’t go unnoticed.

“He what.”

“He killed himself. After Javier died, he killed himself because of everything you’d done to him.”

Daisuke sighed and Keiji and Shoma could almost feel him shaking his head at them. “Oh dear. What a shame. I suppose since you told me that, I should tell you what I know.”

The silence was almost painful and Jason quickly translated the important parts to Minho. Daisuke cleared his throat on the phone and spoke up.

“Your girl is dead, Tanaka.”

Keiji’s heart stopped and he could barely breathe. “W-what?”

“Didn’t you see on the news? Big building explosion in Sendai. Several people died, including eight Canadians. Patrick Chan.” Jason gasped, covering his mouth. “Kaetlyn Osmond. Nam Nguyen. Keegan Messing. Tessa Virtue. Scott Moir. Brian Orser.”

“No,” Jason shook his head, eyes burning with tears that didn’t fall, “N-no, he’s got to be lying.”

“And Gabrielle Daleman.”

“Lying bastard!” Keiji’s hands shook with rage and terror, not wanting to believe Daisuke. “Stop making this up you bastard!”

“I told you all, didn’t I? Love makes you weak. And she’s dead. I’m not lying to you.”

Shoma took the phone from Keiji as the other threw his own phone against one of the other walls, shocking a receptionist and some of the other staff. Yuna sat down next to him, speaking quietly to try and help him as Shoma kept speaking to Daisuke on the phone.

“What else do you know?”

“Oh, Shoma, wouldn’t you like to know? Do you still have the Canadian bastard with you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Shoma protectively looped his arm around Jason’s shoulders. Itsuki shuffled closer to them, leaning on Shoma’s shoulder on the other side. “Tell me.”

“I have the Korean bitch back.”

Jason choked on a sob and covered his mouth, tears running down his face. “N-no… Please, no, no no no no no! H-he’s fine, he just got lost on the way back—”

“He’s with us and is already on the way back to Tokyo. Come and get him if you dare. Lovely speaking to you again Shoma, Keiji. I’m so sad to hear about Yuzuru. I’ll hopefully talk to you again sometime.”

The line went dead and Jason sobbed into Shoma’s shoulder. Itsuki, on his other side, had completely frozen in shock. Keiji had been reduced to sobbing into his arms, and Minho looked at each of them in confusion. Yuna sat down next to him, eyes downcast.

“I’m sorry,” she said in gentle Korean, using the same tone that she had used for Jun’s therapy sessions. “I’m so sorry. Your little brother has again been targeted by a group from Japan.”

“They’re the ones who…?”

“I’m sorry. They are.”

Minho covered his mouth, silencing his sobs as tears started to run down his face. “I-I had him for a day… A-a day a-and… And now I-I may never see him again…”

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered to him, stroking his arm.

Itsuki held Suho closer to his chest, tears falling into his fur. The bunny nuzzled at his neck gently, trying to comfort him like he would have comforted his true owner.

“I-I’m sorry Suho,” he mumbled, kissing his ears. “I-I’m so sorry… I-I… I promise I’ll look after you until Jun can see you again.”

* * *

 

Jun groaned, head pounding as his eyes fluttered open. In complete darkness, he could feel the rocking of a boat, the smell of slightly damp wood, and metal cuffs on his wrists. Jun tugged helplessly at the metal; eyes being completely covered.

“Stop struggling Chon,” he froze and his skin crawled as he heard the familiar voice whisper to him. Wandering hands slipped under his shirt, dragging him back to the worst times of his life, “or we’ll make life even worse for you. After you finish your first few jobs, the boss said he’ll let us have a little fun with you. After he’s had his fun of course.”

Tears ran down his face, and Jun’s slim frame shook as he squirmed to avoid the hands and going back to his nightmare.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The five men in the reception were in a terrible state

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, sorry it's been so long since I updated this. I kind of struggled with this chapter and I'm not doing so well with the pacing for the next bits after this. If pacing goes weird, sorry. This chapter is pretty angsty and warnings apply here!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this and please enjoy (?) this chapter xx

The five men in the reception were in a terrible state. Keiji had eventually sobbed himself to sleep, curling up on the chair to hide his face in his arms. His tears had dried leaving his face blotchy and red, and the salty tears had left sticky trails down his cheeks. Shoma had Jason in his arms, holding him close and letting the American rest his forehead on his shoulder. Jason’s sobs had died down to small whimpers, but he couldn’t fall asleep, mind too active with thoughts about Jun’s new mental and physical torment. Minho had his face buried in his knees, unable to stop thinking about his little brother, trapped and alone in his own personal form of hell. He shook, swallowing down a fresh wave of sobs and tears. Itsuki had fallen asleep against Shoma’s other side, leaning on his shoulder, and Suho had fallen asleep in his arms too. Itsuki’s little whimpers hurt Shoma’s heart and he stroked his little brother’s hair as he slept. Itsuki moved slightly, tears still running down his cheeks silently, even as he slept, and Shoma gently wiped them away for him. Suho seemed to understand too that everything wasn’t okay; he hid himself in the junction between Itsuki’s neck and shoulder before he had also settled down in an uneasy sleep. The bunny moved along with Itsuki, sensing the other’s distress.

“You awake?” Jason whispered to Shoma, looking up from his shoulder. Shoma glanced down and met his eyes. Normally, they were full of light and enthusiasm, reflecting Jason’s eternal optimism about the future and their situations; now, however, they were devoid of the internal happiness and cheerfulness that was a part of what made Jason who he really was.

“Yeah,” Shoma whispered back, moving some of the curls gently off his forehead before he placed a light kiss there. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Jason shook his head, sniffing quietly. “I-I… I can’t believe if happened again,” he mumbled. “I-I… I already failed him the first time and… And now this…”

“Shhh,” Shoma kissed his forehead again. “It’s not your fault Jason. It’s Daisuke’s. Daisuke’s the one who… You know… Not you. You didn’t… You didn’t hand him over to them. You didn’t say “look, here he is. If you want him, come get him.” You did what any normal person would have done and it’s not your fault that this happened. It’s Daisuke’s. Don’t blame yourself. Blame Daisuke.”

“W-what am I going to do? I-I… Before I had a group of people who had the connections to help to get him back, and you were there as well. But now…”

“Now we’ve run from those people there’s not much we can do,” Shoma nodded sadly, stroking Jason’s hair gently. “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologising? It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault.”

“Because I don’t know what else to say,” Shoma confessed.

Jason shuffled up and kissed his jawline. “You don’t have to say anything. You just being here means a lot to me. Thank you. Thank you for supporting me, Shoma.”

“Thank you for supporting me too,” Shoma mumbled. “I wish I’d been able to say something nicer to him. I-I… I hate to think our last conversation could have been that fight.”

“It’s not your last conversation.” Jason said as firmly as he could, although his voice lacked some conviction. “You’ll see him again. We’ll get him back.”

Shoma nodded as much as he could without disturbing Itsuki on his other side. “Worrying, however much we can’t help it, won’t make any difference to him. We’ll need to keep calm and think through what to do to best help him.”

Jason nodded and leaned his head on Shoma’s shoulder. “I should never have dared to believe that things were improving for us.”

“But then you wouldn’t be you, Jason. After proper sleep, we’ll work out what to do together, okay? I’m not letting you go through this alone.”

Jason smiled up at him with the weakest smile he’d ever shown, but it was still a smile that made Shoma’s heart flutter a little. He pulled Jason closer and rubbed his shoulder before Jason finally responded. “Thank you Sho.”

“You don’t have to thank me. I know what it’s like to shut yourself off from the world, to hide away so that no one can hurt you. I’m just glad that Yuzuru and Keiji helped to pull me out of it, even though I could never quite do the same for them.”

“Javier did that for me too. He would talk to me, joke with me about my technique. And Nam and Keegan did their best to help me by distracting me and taking my mind off it before. Kaetlyn, she… She let me cry on her shoulder,” he half smiled before his face fell completely, “a-and now… They’re all…”

Shoma kissed his forehead again, just letting Jason sob into his shoulder as Itsuki whimpered on his other side. He stroked his little brother’s shoulder and forehead, swallowing down his sadness.

_Thank you,_ Shoma thought to whichever deity would listen, _thank you for protecting Itsuki physically. He’s going to be hurt emotionally, but at least he’s here with me. And please, please help Jun be safe. Please. I don’t know how Jason will cope if he gets hurt even more. Please. I just want Jason to be happy._

* * *

 

When Jun next awoke, he found himself not in the type of cells he’d been trapped in before, with bars on the sides and people like Deniss and Matteo with him, but instead he found himself shut in a windowless room, completely isolated, lit with a dim bulb only. He still had his clothes on, but his phone was gone as was his wallet. He reached around his neck, rubbing the thin gold chain of his necklace between his fingers as he took in the bare white walls around him. Standing up, he held onto the wall as his head spun from the after effects of whatever he’d been given to keep him quiet and pliant on the way there. Wherever there was. He traced the walls with his fingertips, trying to clear his mind and keep himself out of the dark place it was slipping towards.

“Five things you can see,” he whispered to himself, voice filling the emptiness and the silence. “What are five things you can see Jun? You can see the walls, you can see the light, you can see the ceiling, you can see… I-Itsuki’s jumper, and you can see your shoes. Okay, good. Okay. Breathe.” He talked himself through it, trying to keep his breathing level. “Four things you can feel Jun. Um, okay, this wall. That’s one. I can feel the carpet underneath my shoes.  I can feel… Uh… The… Um…” He forced himself to breathe, swallowing thickly again. “I-I can feel my shirt? That counts. And… Um…”

The door opened up and Jun raised his hand to shield his eyes from the much brighter light outside his room; the single light source in his cell was very dim in comparison to the lights in the corridor outside. The teenager backed away, back hitting the wall all too soon for his liking as three imposing men spilt into the room. He dug his fingernails hard into his hand and looked down at his shoes instead, trying not to look up at any of them.

A hand cupped his cheek, holding it tight enough to stop Jun from moving away even as he flinched, and his face was guided up to meet a very familiar pair of brown eyes. Jun jolted back, smacking his head hard against the wall in shock and a blind panic. His breathing shallowed as he took in Daisuke standing in front of him.

“Nice to see you again.” Daisuke smiled coldly, rubbing his thumb across Jun’s cheek like he’d done all that time ago. “Feels like just yesterday you were last here. Did you miss us?”

Jun couldn’t breathe; his legs collapsed underneath him and Daisuke let him fall against the wall, smirking as he watched him try to make himself as small as possible. He started to shake, choking on his sobs as he struggled to properly breathe. Daisuke knelt down next to him and lightly traced circles on Jun’s knee before his hand starting moving up the teen’s thigh.

“Don’t worry too much about it. We’ll make sure you have a chance to make up for running away. We won’t hold it against you that much. You’ll just need to work a little harder for us. Starting with finishing the job you ran away in the middle of.”

Jun flinched back, slamming his head into the wall before he could stop himself, trying desperately to avoid the hands on him. Daisuke just smirked, tormenting the teen more before he gestured to the guards. They hauled Jun to his feet and pulled his wrists firmly behind his back, locking them into the cold metal handcuffs as he was dragged out of the room and into the brightly lit corridor. Unlike his last cell, this one led out into a carpeted hallway.

The teenager regained himself, using some of the mental tricks that Yuna had taught him, before thrashed about in the guards’ arms and, after months of better nutrition and recovery, he slammed the back of his head into one of their faces. The guard swore, letting go of him in shock to cradle his nose as Jun kicked out at another. The teen caught one of the others’ faces with his foot and dug his elbow hard into the third’s ribs. The guards, more out of surprise than pain, all let go of him. He didn’t hesitate; the moment of weakness from the guards gave Jun a moment of hope. He sprinted towards the other end of the hallway, having no idea where he was going or what he was doing, as he rounded a corner and kept running. Adrenaline flooded his system as he slipped around corners and down more corridors that all looked the same: stark white walls and a rough, dark blue carpet under foot with harsh, bright, white lighting too.

Jun dared to pause for a second, covering his mouth with his hand to muffle his ragged and harsh breaths. He pressed himself against one of the walls, panting, as he listened out for other sounds in the hallway. The silence was overwhelming; only his gasping broke through the thick layer of silence that hung heavy in the air, laced with adrenaline and tipped with Jun’s fear. He brushed some of the hair out of his eyes before, keeping his back to the wall, he slipped further along the corridor. He didn’t run this time; instead he crept along the hallway trying to make as little noise as possible. His breathing still cut through the silence so he covered his mouth with his hand, muffling and silencing it as much as possible. He slipped along the corridor and glanced around before he tried to open the door at the end of the hallway. His stomach twisted as it swung open, revealing another sterile white hallway with the same rough, dark blue carpet, and unease settled into the pit of his stomach. Swallowing, he forced himself forwards and into the new hallway.

It was just as eerily silent. The teenager kept himself close to the wall as he slipped through the corridor, dark clothes standing out against the white walls.

_“You have a lot of Gucci.” Itsuki commented as he opened up more of the boxes containing Jun’s clothes and other items from Canada. Brian had carefully packed up the items in specific groups so that clothing and shoes were together, and more miscellaneous things were kept together like books and technology._

_“It’s comfortable and fashionable.” Jun countered, half dancing along to the music as he pinned his pictures up on the board. He smiled weakly, eyes lingering on a picture of him and Jason in Toronto that had been taken on one of their first few days there. He shook himself out of it, pining up a different one of him and his brother sharing a milkshake a few weeks before he moved out to Toronto._

_“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you dress like a very fashionable lesbian.” Itsuki lightly elbowed him, nudging him as they went about neatening up his room and making it more like home for Jun._

Jun fiddled with the sleeve of Itsuki’s cream jumper that he’d swiped the morning of his last day there. It still smelt slightly of him, and Jun pulled the sleeves over his hands with a soft smile. His heart fluttered before it twisted painfully when he realised just how fucked up the situation was. His boyfriend, his brother, his bunny, Jason, Keiji, and Shoma were all thousands of miles away from him, and he was trapped here with a very slim chance of getting back to them. But a slim chance was better than no chance and, for a chance to see Itsuki, Suho, Minho, Jason, and the others again he would grasp that chance and throw himself into it with all he had. If it gave him a chance to see them again, he wouldn’t waste the opportunity.

He steeled himself before he slipped down the hallway, glancing around himself like a frightened animal. The silence was overwhelming and emotionally crushing, the weight of it pushed him on further. He kept his back against the wall and slid along it, forcing himself to stay as calm as possible. He rounded the corner and froze, backing up instinctively.

“You didn’t really think you could get out of here did you?” Daisuke asked with a cold smirk. Jun back up, shoulders hitting into one of the guards behind him. Two of them pinned his arms back, stopping him from escaping. Jun struggled but the three guards held him firmly so that his chance at escaping dissolved into thin air. The teen was gagged to muffle and silence his screams and he was dragged down a different hallway and into a room covered in tiles.

Jun flinched as they pulled his wrists up into the painfully familiar cuffs above his head, and his heart all but broke as the blade reduced Itsuki’s jumper and his comfort to nothing more than rags and strips of fabric. Tears ran down the side of his face as the familiar scent of Itsuki was gone and replaced with harsh scent of the intense, harsh chemical filled soap that was scrubbed over his slim frame.

* * *

 

“Itsuki, you need to eat something.” Shoma pushed the plate in front of Itsuki, rubbing his shoulders gently. “Itsuki, please.”

“Why.” Itsuki mumbled, looking down at Suho instead of up at his brother. It wasn’t really phrased as a question; the teen’s voice and expressions were full of defeat and was almost lifeless. “I don’t feel like eating. I don’t want to.”

“You can’t just sit here forever wallowing.” Shoma reasoned, hugging him closer. “Please Itsuki, at least eat something.”

“It’s been five days and I already feel like I’m missing something so important from my life. I… Does the hurt ever stop, Shoma? Does it ever go away? Will it be like this until we get him back? Will my heart and soul always feel so empty until we have Jun with us again?”

Shoma’s heart hurt as he watched his younger brother cuddle up with the rabbit in his arms on the sofa. The teenager hid his face in the bunny’s fur, tears running down the side of his face as his quiet sobs escaped the fluff and made it to the rest of the room. He gasped, sobbing much more openly as Shoma pulled him close and let him hide his face in his shoulder.

“Why did it have to be him, Shoma? W-Why?! H-He… He doesn’t deserve this. He’s suffered so much already and the world is throwing him to shit again for no reason. I-I… I miss him. I just want to hug him and tell him it’s all okay, and protect him and make sure that he feels loved and protected.”

Shoma had no idea how to respond. He just held his little brother close, kissing the crown of his head as he let his sobs die down to just soft whimpers. He pulled back, taking in his messed-up hair, red rimmed eyes, and tear stained cheeks. “Want to talk to me?”

“Not really,” Itsuki mumbled softly. “P-please just… Just hold me for a bit. Please.”

Shoma nodded, stroking his shoulder as he held Itsuki in his arms. He looked up at the ceiling and silently thanked whatever higher power was there that Itsuki was still safe.

* * *

 

“So,” Minho lightly traced the edge of his empty coffee cup, “thank you Jason.”

Jason raised an eyebrow at him, setting his latte down before he took in the other. He looked so similar to Jun that it hurt; they both had the same eyes, and the same expressions when they were trying not to show how they were really feeling or cry. Jun’s eyes would glaze over and he’d bite his lip, and he’d fix his gaze over the top of Jason’s head to avoid making eye contact with him. Minho did it too; it was so similar to how Jun acted that Jason’s guilt rose up in his throat along with bile that he had to swallow down.

“Thank you? Why are you thanking me? I’m so sorry. This is all my—”

“This isn’t your fault,” Minho cut in. “It’s my fault. He… He was with me and, and I—”

“It’s no one’s fault,” Jason said gently. “No one’s fault but the people who took him from us.”

“Well… Then thank you for looking after him when you guys were in Canada. It was comforting to know that he had someone supporting him there. If he’d been on his own, I would have been so worried about him. Thank you for being someone that he could rely on.”

Jason swallowed the lump in his throat and looked down at his hands on the table between them instead of at Minho as tears pricked at his eyes and guilt washed over him again. “I’m sorry. I-I… This… He was in my care when he got hurt and it’s my fault.”

Minho shook his head, wiping at his eyes quickly. “Jason, Jun really loves you like you’re another brother to him. I… Thank you for making him feel so safe. If you need me, please call me. I’m not giving up on finding him. I will look for him and try to get him back.”

“I’ll help you. I can’t offer you much, but I will do whatever I can to help you get him back,” Jason promised.

“That means the world to me Jason,” Minho smiled weakly, tears still running down his cheeks.

* * *

 

Keiji leaned his head against the cool glass of his bedroom window, half staring out into the darkness, as he fiddled with his phone in his hands. Almost unconsciously, he dialled the familiar number.

“The number you have called has failed.”

Tears ran down the side of his face as he gripped his phone tighter, moving it away in regret.

“Gabby,” he whispered to the window, “why did you have to die? You’re too sweet, too kind, too loving, and you deserved better than this. Do you remember, Gabby, when we used to sit together in the evenings and call each other about our days? Or when we’d send stupid texts to each other to try and cheer each other up after bad days? Or when we’d video call just because I missed seeing you? G-Gabby… Gabrielle, I don’t know how I’m going to move on,” he swallowed the lump in his throat, shaking his head, “I-I love you. I will always love you and will never forget you. Yuzuru and Javier will look after you to make sure you’re okay. I-I… I love you so much Gabby. Nights are the hardest without you. That’s when I miss you the most. I love you Gabby. I always will.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To suffer what Jun suffered once was enough to change him physically and mentally for the rest of his life. Living, existing again under Daisuke’s control meant that Jun was forced to suffer it almost endlessly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Exams are *this close* to being done. *This close*. They're so nearly done. Yay!
> 
> Anyway, this is the chapter. This chapter was uncomfortable to write, and that's kind of what I wanted? Especially at the beginning. I don't really know. I'm not completely happy with this chapter, especially the end, but yeah, here it is. The warnings really apply here. I should say that I've all but fallen out of love with this story sadly. I'm not sure whether I'll make it to the end but I will try. I don't know what else to say, but, thank you for reading this xx

To suffer what Jun suffered once was enough to change him physically and mentally for the rest of his life. Living, existing again under Daisuke’s control meant that Jun was forced to suffer it almost endlessly. He never saw a window; he couldn’t tell how long he’d been there for as they very rarely took his blindfold off. It only came off for clients who were particularly fucked up and wanted to see a seventeen-year old’s lifeless eyes as they fucked them. Most wanted him helpless so that they could fulfil their fantasies of trapping a helpless child underneath them and using them however they wanted. The only way Jun could attempt to measure the passage of time was through arrival of the meals they forced him to eat, through the comings and goings of the clients, and through the regular cleaning that never properly got rid of the feeling of someone’s touch on his skin, of the kisses against his neck, the hands wandering down his body, and the sticky substances left on his thighs and inside him. Even the soap and rough hands pulling him around and scrubbing him until his skin was raw and red didn’t make him feel any cleaner; the hands on him made him only feel worse.

Yuna had taught him how to get his mind back when he had flashbacks back into the room, back to when someone was on top of him, when he was pinned down and trapped in the darkness with the unforgiving metal on his wrists and ankles as well as the fabric muffling him and blinding him. Yuna had told him how to get himself through them and through the dissociation, especially by taking a note of the area around him and connecting to the present.

Yuna never taught him how to get out of his present state of mind. She never taught him how to think back to a better time. She always spoke about getting back to the present. But if the present was hell, where was he meant to go?

He retreated into his own mind, curling up in the memories of being hugged by Jason, of sharing milkshakes with Minho after long walks in the Olympic park together or shopping in Seoul, of having fun in Canada with Joseph and Conrad, of playing games on the sofa with Itsuki, and of curling up in the evenings together as a pseudo family watching a film as a group. Jun could hide in there, wrapped up in a blanket with his boyfriend feeding him mango ice cream and laughing with him about whatever dumb anime they were watching, so that he could focus on something other than the sweet nothings whispered to him through pants in a language he didn’t understand, the almost constant pain between in his legs, and the hopeless feelings in his heart. It was so much easier to ignore the forced prostitution when he could hide in memories of happier, better times.

The client on top him let out a groan before he pressed a light, breathless kiss to Jun’s lips. His hands slipped down, rubbing at Jun’s hips and waist in a way that might have been comforting had he not just used a chained and bound teenager for his own pleasure. The weight on top of Jun shifted and vanished, half shaking him out of his own mind and thoughts.

“Thanks,” a low, breathy voice whispered, breath caressing Jun’s earlobe and the side of his neck as the teen was torn out of his comforting memories, “you’re certainly worth what I paid your boss. I’ll be back to see you soon, so thank you for a good few hours of fun.”

The weight moved off him, leaving Jun alone again with only the feeling of the silky ties on his hands, wrists, eyes, and the rough cotton gag over his mouth. His mind went blank; he couldn’t draw himself back into the warm memories or the bad ones. It was just like an empty void in his mind, filled with a quiet white noise and darkness. It almost felt comforting, having been stuck in this situation for Jun didn’t know how long the darkness was a respite for him.

After what could have been hours or seconds, Jun couldn’t tell anymore, hands untied his wrists and the gag. He felt almost like he was someone else in the room watching it happen to him. He barely registered as he was tugged up and wrapped up in the all too familiar robe that was soft against his still sensitive skin. Still kept in the dark, he was helped to his feet and led where he assumed was out of the room. He didn’t bother to fight; the fight had left him after the first ten times. Now it was just easier to let himself be pulled left and right, down corridors and hallways he couldn’t see. When the carpet underneath his bare feet changed to tiles, he understood exactly where they were. He didn’t fight as the rough hands cleaned him off; it did nothing to make him feel better mentally but it was nice to not have lube covering his inner thighs forever.

“Very special person for you next,” one of the men with him whispered, placing a featherlight kiss on the junction between Jun’s neck and shoulder with false softness. “We’re to get you ready for them. Now that you’re not quite so pure, it’s alright for more people to have some fun with you.”

After towelling him off and wrapping him back in the robe, they finally took off his blindfold so that his makeup could be redone and touched up by sobbing teenagers dragged in against their will. Jun’s heart broke for them as the mascara was reapplied and the eyeliner added to emphasise his eyes. His blush was touched up and something shiny was smeared across his lips that tasted faintly of artificial strawberries. He was then scooped up and carried in one of the guards’ arms like a princess or child down the hallway, keeping his bare feet clean. Jun absently took in his surroundings when they entered another room: the plush red carpet, the four poster bed, the handcuffs laid out plainly, the handgun resting on the bedside table, the collection of knives in a display cabinet, the open wardrobe doors showing the various suits displayed there, and the pooh bear sitting on the chest of drawers in the corner. The guards set down Jun and stepped back to stay by the door, watching him. The teenager studied the room, almost transfixed by the pooh bear. Upon closer inspection, he saw the tissues poking out from the back of it. He lifted it up and tilted his head as he realised that it was a tissue box cover, not just a plushie.

“Do you like it?” Jun turned to see Daisuke watching him from near the doorway, studying his every move. “I knew a guy. He looked very similar to you when he was seventeen, and he used to come and play in this room with me. The Pooh bear was his. He looked so beautiful when he cried, so that’s why the bear is a tissue box. I loved seeing him cry. He was too beautiful really. I’m very lucky that I got him first.”

Jun didn’t give him an answer; he instead played with Pooh’s ears to avoid looking at the other. Daisuke nodded to the guards and both left the room, leaving Daisuke and Jun alone in the room together. The older leisurely walked over to him, placing his hand on the small of Jun’s back, almost tenderly. The younger, even after all he’d suffered, couldn’t stop his flinch away from the touch. Daisuke caressed his lower back, hand below the belt of the robe as he stroked him gently with his thumb. He leaned closer to Jun, watching as the youngster tried to school his features and focus on the bear instead of him.

“Are you going to be good for me? Or will I have to punish you later? It’s your choice Chon. You can play nice, or I can restrain you to the bed and make you scream for hours like I did to him. I had a lot of fun with him, pushing his limits, making him scream and squirm.” Daisuke kissed at the teen’s neck with care and gentleness that juxtaposed the harshness of his words. “It’s your choice whether you scream in pain, or in pleasure. Whether I decide to give you the release and pleasure I can, or whether I make you wait for hours, on the edge of getting what you want but not giving you enough. Or I can just use you until you’re too exhausted to do anything but take it like the slut you are. What do you say? What’s your decision?”

The teen still didn’t respond; he took his time to try and remove one of the stubborn creases on the pooh bear’s face from being in a bag awkwardly. Daisuke brushed some of Jun’s long fringe out of his eyes, placing a kiss on the crown of his head, before he moved the pooh bear out of his hands and set it back down on the chest. Jun finally, _finally_ , looked up at him with dark brown eyes that still somehow maintained a small shred of innocence.

_“Daisuke-san—”_

_“Get on the bed Yuzuru.”_

_“Daisuke, please—”_

_“Don’t make me ask you again. Get on the bed, Yuzuru, or I will drag you onto it. Move. Now. Unless you’d rather Keiji took your place? Or little Shoma, perhaps? Or how about his little brother instead?”_

_Yuzuru looked up at him, dark eyes wide and still innocent as a tear ran down the side of his face, despite having done this before with Daisuke. The older tutted and grabbed his wrist, throwing him down onto the bed like a doll before he cuffed his wrists to the bedposts. Tears ran down the sides of his face, even after being in the position before, and Daisuke wiped them away with his thumb as he stroked the younger’s face._

_“You somehow manage to look beautiful when you cry too. God, you’re so fucking gorgeous Yuzuru. I could probably still pass you off as a fifteen-year-old if I tried hard enough, but I’d rather have you warming just my bed than share you with others.”_

Jun couldn’t hold back his whimper, pulling against the handcuffs as Daisuke smirked down at his trapped, slim form. He couldn’t retreat into his memories; Daisuke knew, like Yuna, how to bring someone back to the present, and so he made sure to pull him back to the present and keep him there firmly so that he couldn’t hide in his mind.

* * *

 

Itsuki lay on the grass in the green space outside where they lived with Suho on his stomach as he looked up at the sky. It was bright blue with only the occasional white cloud disrupting the solid block of colour. The light breeze moved Itsuki’s hair and the trees around him as he idly ran his fingers in Suho’s fur. The grass was ever so slightly damp from the early morning dew that still lingered on it, soaking through the thin material of Jun’s shirt that he’d swiped that morning. He fiddled with the hem of the blue and white striped Gucci shirt with his free hand, swallowing down the lump in his throat. Suho twitched on his stomach, shuffling around and tickling him slightly as his fluffy paws made the shirt ride up so that he could then tickle the other’s stomach with his paws. His mouth half made it to a smile as he absent mindedly stroked Suho’s ears softly, enjoying the feeling of the bunny’s soft paws on his flat stomach.

“Mine if I lie here with you?”

“Go ahead.”

Shoma lay down next to him, carefully petting Suho’s ears too. His fingertips brushed the younger’s hand on the bunny’s back and he glanced over at Itsuki.

“Talk to me?”

“There’s nothing to say.”

“How are you feeling?”

Itsuki shrugged, trying not to move Suho too much. The bunny curled up and nosed at the smooth skin of his navel that poked out from where the hem of the shirt he’d borrowed from Jun had ridden up. “I’m trying not to feel anything if I can help it.”

Shoma blinked at him, worry and pain clouding his deep brown eyes as he studied his little brother, paying attention to the little details he’d missed during his own recovery. Itsuki’s teasing and joking had all but completely died since Jun had gone, like all the laughter and jokes, and Itsuki’s sense of humour, had been taken with him. Itsuki was quieter and more reserved and he’d retreated into his shell like after he’d missed a goal in hockey and could have salvaged the game for his team or stopped the loss. The dark circles were ever present, casting shadows on his cheeks and making his eyes so much less vibrant than they used to be. The Itsuki lying next to him wasn’t the same Itsuki that Shoma had known for seventeen years. The other Itsuki was witty, outgoing, and loved to snack. This Itsuki was introverted, withdrawn, and only ate when Shoma effectively forced him to.

“What do you mean?” he dared to ask, looking at Suho so that he didn’t have to look at his little brother and face what he feared. “Itsuki, what do you mean?”

“I mean I’m trying not to feel anything at all if I can help it. When I do feel, it all just hurts. So it’s easier to try not to than to try and fight through it.”

“So you’re just giving up, just like that? What about Yuna?”

“I’ve stopped seeing her.” Itsuki confessed. “She reminds me too much of him and it hurts me to even look at her. So I’ve stopped going.”

“Itsuki, he—”

“What, Shoma? He what? He’s been gone for what feels like ever now.”

“He wouldn’t want you to give up.” Shoma said softly.

Itsuki scoffed, shaking his head. “He’s not here. The only reason I’m even still here is because I can’t leave you alone, or Jason, or Keiji, and I said I’d look after Suho until he gets back. I-I… I miss him. I-I just want him home.”

“Itsuki.” Shoma shook his head with a little sigh. “You have to know that the chances of him getting out are a million to one. You shouldn’t wait for him forever. You’ll be taking care of that bunny until it dies. I doubt you’ll ever see him again. Realistically, he’ll never escape from Daisuke, and—”

“And is that how you feel Shoma?” Shoma tensed as Itsuki looked past him to see Jason standing next to them, mouth half agape and face laced with utter betrayal.

“J-Jason—”

“You think we’ll never see him again?”

“Jason, please—”

“You think that he’s going to die in there and w-we’ll never see him again—”

“Jason, listen to me—”

“You lied to me!” Jason snapped, and Shoma stood up to meet him, face softening as tears of overwhelming, conflicting emotions ran down Jason’s cheeks. “You told me, you promised me, that we’d never give up hope!”

“Jason, please, realistically—”

“Don’t.” Jason cut him off, voice breaking. “Don’t you dare. You’re telling me to give up on seeing him again. He’s basically my little brother. How would you feel if I asked you to give up on ever seeing Itsuki again?”

“Leave him out of this!” Shoma finally shouted at him, and the birds in the trees around them scattered. Itsuki scooped up Suho into his arms and, without looking back, ran towards their shared rooms.

“How would you feel?”

“It doesn’t matter how I would feel because this is the reality Jason! And, however much it fucking hurts you, you need to face the facts. Jun Hwan Cha is never coming back to you, because Daisuke Takahashi doesn’t want him to leave. So he’s there until someone can break him out, which none of them will because Daisuke knows how to manipulate everyone into compliance.”

“I’m going to break him out then. Even if I have to fight my way to Tokyo and beat every single one of them off him, crawl through hell and sell my soul to Satan himself to get him back, I’ll do it. I owe that much to Minho.”

“Jason,” Shoma slipped his hand into Jason’s only for the American to pull his hand back sharply. “J-Jason, no, you can’t just run in there alone.”

“If he has a one in a million chance of getting out on his own, then maybe he has a two in a million chance of getting out if I went to find him.”

Shoma looked up at him with wide eyes, threatening to overflow with tears. “Jason, I—”

“I’m sleeping on the sofa tonight. Shoma I… I love you, I promise I love you, but I just… I need a bit of time to accept how you feel.”

“Jason, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean… I…”

“It’s okay.” Jason swallowed thickly before he tentatively placed a kiss on the crown of Shoma’s head. “I-I just… I-I just need some time to think about…”

“I’m sorry. You miss him. I’m so sorry.”

“You’re only being honest, Shoma.”

Shoma hugged Jason’s middle tightly, hiding his face in the other’s chest. Jason looked over the top of his head, stroking his hair lightly, before he squeezed his shoulder lightly.

“I just need time. I’m sorry. I just need to accept that this is how you feel. I love you, I mean it, and I don’t think anything will stop me loving you but I just need some time.”

Shoma kissed his cheek before he nodded, wiping his eyes. “Of course. I love you Jason.”

“I love you too,” he mumbled softly, “I’ll see you later?”

Shoma nodded, and Jason sighed, walking away from him across the green space and into the secluded space they usually sat in together. Shoma watched him, tears running down his face. He covered his mouth, holding back sobs as he finally thought about what Jason had said to him about Itsuki.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Is this him?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! This chapter may seem a bit off pacing wise, but I really wanted to get to this point by the end of it, so here we are. PLEASE heed the warnings! I mean it! Things get pretty graphic near the end. Not much else I can say other than thank you so much for reading this xx

“Is this him?”

Jun stirred, eyes fluttering open as he found them uncovered for a change. The ceiling was all he could see: white, flawless, and it had two fluorescent lights on it that lit up the whole room. Not that he could see it. He could feel the familiar cotton sheets underneath his exposed back and the cuffs that encompassed his slim wrists. The room smelt faintly of the fake citrus of cleaning products but the scent of sex hung much heavier in the air, choking Jun like it normally did. His last client’s cologne also still lingered in the air and on his chest and neck where the much older man had rubbed up against him. The faint strawberry taste still lingered on his lips from the cheap strawberry flavoured lip gloss Daisuke had enjoyed licking off him when the teenager had been pinned down, thrashing wildly against the bonds holding him to Daisuke’s bed, and the saltiness still lingered on his tongue and in the back of his throat. Jun’s limbs felt heavy and his head hurt like it was stuffed full of cotton wool instead. It hurt to look up at the lights, so he turned his head away and closed them for as long as he could.

“Yes,” Daisuke’s voice jolted Jun back to reality, and the youngster opened his eyes up in confusion despite the pain and the headache. “He’s cute, isn’t he?”

Daisuke’s face came into view, and Jun just turned his head away as much as he could, closing his heavy dark eyes in resignation. A deceptively gentle hand moved his head back up and his eyelids fluttered open. Above him, Daisuke and another man were both leaning over him, scrutinising him like he was a piece of meat they were considering buying. The other man leaned over him and moved some of his long hair out of his eyes with raised eyebrows and a bemused expression. His eyes took in Jun’s wide, terrified ones. They then moved to his soft jawline, his hairless and smooth neck and chin, his pale torso and neck littered with hickies and bruises, his slim wrists held in place firmly by the cuffs, and his legs forced open by the cuffs on his ankles. His eyes scanned Jun lazily, up and down and up and down, like he had nothing better to do with his time.

“He is cute.” He said finally. “How old?”

“Guess.”

The other man moved some of Jun’s hair out of his eyes, stroking the still fluffy hair before he moved down to caress the side of his face with his thumb. His eyes scanned Jun’s body once again as he considered his answer to Daisuke. “I’d say you wouldn’t show me someone unless it was really worth my time, so… Fifteen? Maybe a little younger actually?”

“Close. He’s a little too close to being an adult for my liking, but he’s not quite there yet. Seventeen.”

“You’re lucky. He looks fifteen to me like this, all spread out and pliant. He’s not even trying to escape or talk, despite the lack of a gag or anything. And, with the right makeup and clothes, you could make him look younger than fifteen. More like fourteen, thirteen, possibly twelve. Is that what you want with these photos?”

“Yes. I’ve been asked to submit something for a magazine cover. I think he’d be perfect, don’t you?”

“I do.” The man smirked, still stroking the side of Jun’s face before he looked up at Daisuke. “I can bring my people in now and we can get started on it right away.”

The other left as the cuffs around Jun’s wrists and ankles were unlocked. Jun was pulled into an upright sitting position and he rubbed at the raw skin of his wrists idly. The other man came back into the room with Daisuke and an entire team as he was wrapped up into a robe and manoeuvred out of the room. He went along with them, too tired to properly fight.

They pushed him down into a chair, just in front of a stage mirror surrounded by lights, and Jun barely had time to comprehend what was going on before his face and the bruises on his torso were being slathered in a creamy concealer slightly paler than his normal skin tone. They then dabbed blush on his cheekbones and painstakingly avoided the hollows of his cheeks to make them look rounder and more youthful. He held still as brown eyeliner was applied and his eyelashes were curled and covered in a thickening mascara. A pale lipstick was applied to his lips softly and his hair was moved around to frame his face. Pink grapefruit perfume was dabbed behind his ears and on his neck.

“Don’t fight us Chon. We’re going to dress you now, so behave yourself.”

Dress wasn’t exactly the word that Jun would have used. His limbs were moved around as he was forced into something black and lacy, including a bra with slim straps that crossed over across his pale back and shoulder blades, lacy panties that barely covered anything, and sheer black stockings with lace decorations at the top with thin black suspenders attaching the panties and stockings. He glanced at himself in the mirror before he tore his gaze away, shame burning on his cheeks underneath the foundation. Daisuke and the other man moved him around, sitting him down in front of a white screen. It was like his head was stuffed with cotton wool; he didn’t even think as he acted. The harsh flash of the camera hurt his eyes, and they rearranged him into several different poses. Jun lost track of time during the almost endless photoshoot. The people moved him around: first of all Daisuke had bound him with his wrists above his head and as much on display as the lingerie allowed; then he had his hands tied firmly behind his back and he was forced down onto his knees, looking up at the camera through his thick eyelashes, and after he was put into countless other poses. When it was all over, he was then being stripped again, wrapped up in the robe, and tugged along the hallway to his next client.

“You didn’t think I was going to pay him to take these photos with money, did you?” Daisuke whispered to Jun as the teenager was led down the hallway, tripping over himself as a too-familiar door was opened in front of him and he was shoved in by the guards.

The door locked behind him, sealing his fate.

* * *

 

“I had sex with Daisuke once.”

Shoma looked up from where he’d been unpicking his knitting; he’d missed a stitch and needed to unpick it so that it didn’t cause a problem later on. Yuna and Jason had both suggested that he started knitting to try and help him when he needed to just breath more or stop thinking about his past. The soft grey scarf was about thirty centimetres long at this point, and Shoma half smiled at the thought of giving it to Itsuki. When Keiji spoke up, however, he put the knitting needles and half-finished scarf aside before he patted the sofa next to him. He didn't say anything; he only watched Keiji carefully for a reaction as the other spoke in his own time.

"It was a few weeks after you first arrived at the compound. You and Itsuki were both newly introduced to all of us, and, a few weeks after, I had sex with Daisuke."

He brushed his hair out of his eyes, leaning with his head in his hands. "I went to his office and told him to leave you alone. Both of you. He asked me what it was worth, what I would do for you to be kept safe, and I... I had sex with him so that he wouldn't do it to you or Itsuki."

Shoma's eyes widened before they softened in the swirl of emotions that flooded him. Keiji didn't even cry. He was just slumped forwards as if all the fight had left him. Shoma had noticed he'd been different since the phone call from Daisuke. He was so un-Keiji it was almost ridiculous; there were no jokes anymore, no tiny smiles directed towards the skyline, and he barely ate.

"Thank you," was all he knew to mumble in response. "Keiji, I--"

"Turns out someone else beat me too it. Lying bastard, Daisuke told me he was going to do it to you and Itsuki. But... But Yuzuru himself had gone to talk to him already, as I found out earlier. And Daisuke made him fucking suffer for it. Yuzuru asked me if I'd been with Daisuke, and I'd lied to him." Keiji snorted a little, shaking his head as he laughed through his pain. "I told Yuzuru no, Daisuke never fucked me, I'd never slept with him, why did he ask, when Yuzuru had made himself suffer through more of that hell for all of us."

"Yuzuru did what?"

"Daisuke took great pleasure in telling me after I asked him about it. He told me how Yuzuru easily took everything that Daisuke and... six others made him take just to protect us and your brother. And I lied to the one who did this for me. I never got the chance to tell Yuzuru this."

"So you're telling me instead." Shoma nodded, patting Keiji's shoulder lightly. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I should--"

"No. If you'd known, you'd have freaked. You'd have flipped at Yuzuru for this. Imagine if you'd known about this before Shoma. What would you have done?"

Shoma paused, swallowing thickly. "I-I'd have marched into Daisuke's office myself and told him to... Let Yuzuru go and do it to me instead."

"And then everything Yuzuru sacrificed, mind and body, for both of us would have been for nothing." Keiji rubbed his forehead and laughed almost hysterically. "I knew. The whole fucking time I knew exactly what was going on with Yuzuru, and I never did anything to help him. I did nothing."

"You tended to him when he needed it." Shoma pointed out. "So have I. Remember when Daisuke threw him on us half dead, unable to breathe properly, and bleeding from about eight different places telling us to make sure he didn't die? You, especially, were there for him when he needed. Hell, I know he went to you when he got back from Canada and asked you to help him with his back. You helped him out by stopping it getting infected, and Daisuke would have run with any opportunity to hurt him more."

"I still knew. I should have helped him."

"It's too late now, no matter what you think Keiji. Regret it. Don't regret it. Whatever. He's dead. It doesn't matter." Shoma patted Keiji's back with a sigh. "Keiji, thank you for telling me. And for doing what you did for me and Itsuki."

Keiji half smiled, leaning back with his head against the sofa as he looked up at the ceiling. "Yeah, well, I feel like any decent person would act so that a sixteen-year-old and his little twelve-year-old brother aren't made to do shit like that. You don't have to thank me."

"Thank you." Shoma said firmly. "I mean it."

"Shoma, I can't see much of a point anymore. Gabby's gone. She..." Keiji wiped at his eyes, not looking at the other but instead he chose to focus on the ceiling instead. "She was the best thing in my life. Now she's gone, I just don't know what to do anymore."

"Have you spoken to your therapist about this?"

"I haven't spoken to my therapist since I learned about what happened to her." Keiji confessed. "You're the first person I've spoken to."

"Live." Shoma said firmly. "Fuck it. Get a house plant. Take cookery lessons. Look after a bunny like Itsuki is. If you have something else you love, or something dependent on you like a pet then you're less likely to kill yourself. Especially you. You took care of me and Yuzuru, so you wouldn't just abandon a poor animal. What about that iguana that you've always wanted?"

Keiji studied him for a moment. "You're not joking?"

"Of course I'm not joking." Shoma looked him in the eye. "I mean it. Adopt an iguana. Raise it. Look after it. Call it Momo-chan or name it after her, or Yuzuru, or even me or something if you want."

Keiji, despite himself, snorted at that. "I'm not naming the iguana after you Shoma. But... Yeah, I think you're right."

"Yeah, thank Jason for that idea. He got the kid a bunny to help him cope with... You know. And Itsuki is using the bunny to cope now too. He's looking after the bunny in the hope that the kid comes back, and it's really keeping him going."

"Have you ever considered being a therapist Shoma?"

Shoma snorted and leaned back against the sofa, sighing. "Yeah, can you imagine? I would be awful."

"Can't be that bad. Want to come with me to get an iguana?"

"I don't have much else to do other than fail to knit again." 

* * *

 

To be honest, Jun didn’t know where his surge of courage came from. His last client had left him untied, preferring instead to pin him down themselves as he thrashed underneath them. After finishing, the client had fallen asleep next to him as Jun lay on the bed, eyes open and chest heaving as he came back into the moment. Calming down his breathing, he glanced over at the sleeping man next to him before he sat up and stretched out his legs. The guards hadn’t come back in yet, so he took the time to explore the room. It was plain; there was the bed, a bedside table, the light, and a chest of drawers. Jun opened up one of the drawers of the bedside table and paused, frowning slightly at the notebook and pens stacked up in it. He cautiously took out a notebook and pen before he opened up another drawer. Sliding something into the pocket of the robe pooled on the floor, Jun then clicked the pen and started writing as tears ran down his face.

 _I’m sorry,_ he whispered softly as he kept writing, spilling out his words onto the pages. _I’m so sorry. Please forgive me._

He tore out the notebook pages and folded them up, tucking them into the pocket of his robe again before he shoved the book and pen back into the drawer. Swallowing his pride, he slid back into the bed and lay back with tears still running down his cheeks as the client shifted around in his sleep to put his arm around Jun and stroke his side almost tenderly.

After what felt like hours where Jun couldn’t even fall asleep because he was too afraid of what else the client would do to him when he really couldn’t fight back, Daisuke and the guards came in. As the guards pulled the teenager out, wrapped up in his robe once again, he caught sight of stacks of yen transferring hands. Daisuke gave him a smirk that sent painful shivers down the back of his spine. The guards pulled him into the familiar bathroom and Jun fell mindlessly into the routine. Let them take his robe off. Let them restrain him. Let them clean up the traces of his previous clients left inside him. Let them clean the excess lube off his inner thighs. Let them remove his makeup and clean his face from any cum trails left on his cheeks. Let them wash his hair that was too long and trailed into his eyes at this point and almost reached his collarbones. Let them dry him off with a towel, wrap him up in his robe, and dry his hair again. Let them lead him away from the bathroom and into his cell that contained his bed and little more.

The guards locked him in his room again and Jun flopped onto his bed with tears in his eyes. He took out the notes he’d written in the room with the client, sniffing quietly to himself before he tucked them under the corner of the bed. He then took out the second thing he’d taken from the other room: a razor blade.

Jun fiddled with it in his hands, lying on his back on the bed. The ceiling above him was blank and the walls were completely blank too, the opposite of Jun’s mind. The teenager’s mind was swirling with thoughts of Minho, Itsuki, and Suho especially as well as little memories of Jason, Shoma, and Keiji too. He whimpered, looking down at his exposed left wrist, before he steeled himself.

* * *

 

“Chon! Client for you!” Daisuke knocked on his door, smirking slightly. “Client for you to have fun with. He’s paying a lot of you, so we need you completely waxed and—”

The boss cut himself off, eyes wide in a rare shock that the guards seldom saw. There, lying on the bed like he was from a bad drama, was Jun. Blood covered his stomach where it had flowed from the cuts from his wrists to the elbows following the veins, and it had half dried on top of his pale skin. The rest was still liquid, pooling in his flat stomach and soaking into the bed sheets beside and underneath him. His face had gone pale, and Daisuke cautiously moved the teenager’s wrist, feeling through the slippery blood to try and find the pulse.

Nothing.

“How the fuck,” Daisuke whispered dangerously, eyes burning with thunder as he turned to the guards, “did he find a razor and manage to kill himself?”

“Sir—”

“I told you to keep him alive. Do you know how much money you’ve all just lost me from this client? And from future clients? Everyone here loved to fuck him because he was a cute little Korean slut. Now? Now all of that is gone.” He seethed with rage, glaring at Jun’s still form lying on the bed. He was warm, but he looked cold.

“Sir, is there anything we should do?”

“I’ll tell you this right now. You should, under no circumstances, tell Uno or Tanaka about this. Let them suffer in the knowledge that this kid is still stuck. Send them the pictures of him from the photoshoot. Let them suffer for more. I’ll think about what to do with you later.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuna opened up the large brown envelope handed to her gingerly, frowning at the five smaller envelopes that sat inside and the folded-up letter. Shaking it out, she raised an eyebrow at the names on the envelopes before she picked up the loose letter herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! This story is back. I'm so sorry for the last chapter. I know it hurt, but yeah, I had to finish it how I did. This was meant to be the last chapter, but it got really long so I decided to split it. This chapter is kind of like the repercussions of the last chapter hits the others. I'm sorry for this chapter, and this story, and I don't think I'll stop apologising for it. Please try and enjoy this chapter though, and thank you for reading this xx

Yuna opened up the large brown envelope handed to her gingerly, frowning at the five smaller envelopes that sat inside and the folded-up letter. Shaking it out, she raised an eyebrow at the names on the envelopes before she picked up the loose letter herself.

_Dear Yuna,_

_It’s been a while, hasn’t it? You probably thought I was dead all this time like Daisuke does. I would have stayed hidden forever more, however I have to tell you something important and so that’s why I reached out to you._

_Jun Hwan Cha is dead. Daisuke will try to convince you and the five who these letters are addressed to that he’s alive, but he is dead. I saw his body myself. He committed suicide, presumably after he couldn’t take the endless assault anymore. I’m sorry to be the one to inform you of this, but I believe that he was living in your facility before he was taken and felt that you have a right to know._

_As you have probably seen, I have attached the five letters I found in his room. I put them in envelopes for each of the people: Jason Brown, Shoma Uno, Keiji Tanaka, Minho Cha, and Itsuki Uno with Suho the bunny. Please see to it that each person gets their letter; I believe that four are living in your facility still and that the fifth you have contact with. Jun Hwan Cha believed that these letters would never be delivered, however I found them before Daisuke did and so sent them to you._

_I wish I could see you again sometime Yuna, however Daisuke is strictly monitoring the people entering and exiting Japan, especially those coming to and from South Korea. As much as I’d love to see you, it would be too risky for me at the moment to try and get to you. It’s a big risk sending this letter, but I sent it from Sendai instead of Tokyo so, even if Daisuke knows I’m alive, he has to get here first before he can find me, and I’ll be in Nagoya before this letter reaches you. Yuzuru’s work means that Daisuke has little presence in Sendai, despite what he’s said and especially since he destroyed his own building._

_I love you, Yuna. I will see you again, I promise_

_Yours,_

_Mao_

Yuna read through the letter once, twice, three times, before she folded it up and held it close for a moment. Shaking her head and blinking her eyes to hold back in her tears, she tucked her letter back into the enveloped before she turned to one of the others with a soft sigh.

“Call in Jason Brown, Shoma Uno, Keiji Tanaka, and Itsuki Uno to the main reception. And someone call in Minho Cha as well. I have letters addressed to all of them.”

* * *

 

Itsuki lay on his back on the sofa, listening to Jun’s KPop playlist that had been left on his phone. From the cleaning incident. Suho lay on his naval asleep as he moved lightly to the sound of G-Dragon. He scrolled through his phone, looking at Instagram numbly as he scrolled through endless adverts for sport wear that he didn’t need, when a withheld number called up. Instinctively, Itsuki rejected the call and went back to scrolling. The number called again, almost like an insistent person pestering him, and his thumb hovered over the red button before he sighed and hit the green one.

“Hello?”

“Check the link sent to your email.”

“Who is this?” He sat up, disturbing Suho who slid into his lap. “Who are you?”

“Check the link sent to your email Itsuki.”

“Who are you?”

“Check the link sent to your email Itsuki.”

Itsuki hung up, shaking his head, when a text popped up from another unknown number.

_Check the link sent to your email Itsuki._

_Check the link sent to your email Itsuki._

_Check the link sent to your email Itsuki._

More and more popped into his inbox, and he held Suho closer almost instinctively. Fighting every single instinct screaming at him to stop, Itsuki opened up his emails. From an unknown sender, there was an email containing only a single link. Biting his lip, he clicked on the link.

Itsuki threw his phone across the room at the sight of the image, recoiling in horror as a wave of nausea rose up in his throat. His brief glimpse of the page had been enough; he’d seen it was Jun’s face and that he’d been dressed indecently with his hands bound behind his back. It felt wrong to even look at it to Itsuki, even though Jun was his boyfriend and he was possibly the least bad person to see the pictures it still felt wrong. He held Suho close to his chest as if to protect the bunny from seeing what was on the screen of his discarded phone.

“You okay?” Itsuki looked up to see Jason standing in the doorway of his and Shoma’s joint room with only concern written across his features. “Did you drop your phone?”

“Don’t—” Itsuki tried, but Jason picked it up.

The older froze, staring at the phone in shock. Itsuki had only seen the first picture, but, as Jason scrolled down the page, there were hundreds with Jun in a different position each time. Jason’s heart broke and his stomach turned; he had to swallow down the bile that rose up in his throat.

“I-Itsuki…”

“I was sent the link in an email.” He blurted out. “T-they… Why are they doing this to him?”

“I don’t know,” Jason answered honestly in nothing more than a whisper. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I wish… I wish he was back here and safe.”

“I-It’s horrible,” Itsuki wiped his eyes quickly, bouncing Suho in his arms as the bunny sensed his distress. “I’d give anything to have him back here.”

“Me too.” Jason opened his arms and Itsuki ran into them. The older stroked his hair, ignoring the tears running down his own face as he instead comforted the younger who was sobbing into his shirt. “Itsuki, I’m so sorry.”

The younger just held onto Jason tightly, body still wracked with sobs as he let it all out. “Thank you, Jason. Thank you for looking after Shoma, and me, and him, and for making sure we’re all okay, well fed, and everything like that. Thank you for just… For… For everything. I really appreciate it.”

“You never have to thank me.” Jason said firmly. “You’re like family to me Itsuki. I want to take care of you and make sure that you’re okay. And I want to help you get through this because we’re in a similar position right now. It’s so much easier to get through if we say how we’re feeling, okay?”

Itsuki nodded, wiping his eyes with his free hand as he pulled back from Jason. “I feel violated for him. Just… Just seeing him like that with those glazed over eyes… He was dissociating from there. He didn’t want to be there.”

Jason nodded, helping Itsuki sit down on the sofa, and he just listened to the younger pour out his feelings and emotions. He didn’t know how long they stayed on the sofa, with Itsuki in his arms and Suho in Itsuki’s, but they were interrupted by an announcement into the room.

“Jason Brown, Shoma Uno, Keiji Tanaka, and Itsuki Uno, please report to the reception area to meet Yuna Kim. Thank you.”

“Yuna wants to see us?”

“Maybe it’s information,” Jason nudged Itsuki with his shoulder gently. “Let’s go and see, yeah?”

The pair walked into the reception together, with Suho still in Itsuki’s arms, and they settled on two of the chairs. Keiji and Shoma soon joined them, and then Yuna came in followed by Minho, who claimed the free seat next to Jason.

“Thank you for coming, all of you. I think this discussion needs to happen somewhere else. Perhaps outside? There is no one else in the North Gardens at the moment.”

The group followed her outside into the section of the North Gardens hidden behind the branches of the willow trees, next to the koi pond and water fountain. Yuna sat down on one of the benches and the others followed suit, with Jason, Shoma, and Itsuki on one bench and Minho, Yuna, and Keiji on the other. Yuna cleared her throat, disturbing the fragile silence produced by the natural surroundings, before she spoke up.

“We received word about the situation regarding Jun Hwan Cha earlier today.” Jason saw the tears gathering in her eyes and his heart stopped. “I-I regret to inform you that he’s no longer with us…”

“T-this is a joke, right?” Itsuki spoke up over the top of Suho’s head. “L-like, you’re going to say this, and… and then he’s going to pop up out from behind something and be absolutely fine, and we’ll hug him and he’ll smile again… This is just a prank, right?”

Yuna shook her head and Itsuki’s eyes welled up with tears. A tear ran down the side of Yuna’s face and she didn’t bother wiping it away as she handed out the letters from inside the brown envelope. She swallowed, voice breaking and cracking on some of the words.

“I-I’m so sorry… I-I… L-let me read you something from my source.” She opened up her letter and cleared her throat again. “Jun Hwan Cha is dead. He committed suicide, presumably after he couldn’t take the endless assault anymore.”

Jason winced, eyes brimming with tears, and Itsuki burst into tears, hiding his face in Suho’s soft fur. Shoma pulled his younger brother into a hug, stroking his hair as the younger sobbed and cried into the bunny that buried its fluffy nose into Jun’s shirt that he was wearing. He hiccupped, gasping for breath as his sobs wracked his whole body. Tears ran down the side of Jason’s face, and he forced himself to calm down. Yuna wiped at her eyes finally before she passed out envelopes to each of them.

“These are for all of you. I-I… I will let you read them in your own time and will not make you talk. I’m so sorry about this.” She bowed her head to them. “I will be available if you all need me. Please, please don’t feel that you have to take this alone. I’m here for you.”

They all nodded and she left them alone in the open space. Jason was crying silently. Shoma was pale, and he looked shaken and almost empty. Keiji’s eyes were lost; he barely spoke to Jun but they all felt that something was wrong. Minho was in a state. He had slumped forwards and was sobbing into his arms, gasping to breathe through them. Itsuki too was sobbing, but into Suho and not his arms. His face was entirely blotchy, and there was nothing but hurt and pain in his eyes.

Keiji was the first to open the envelope with his name written in English on it. With trembling fingers, he took out the letter and unfolded it.

_Dear Keiji Tanaka,_

_I didn’t see you much or speak to you much, but I still owe you everything. You saved me the first time from the biggest pain and the worst moment of my life then, and I cannot thank you enough. You helped to bring hope back to Jason, and you’ve supported him and Shoma in their relationship. I hope you can be happy in the future, Mr Tanaka, because you deserve it. Please don’t think about the things you did in your past. They don’t matter anymore. You saved me, and that’s the man I will always remember: a brave, kind man called Keiji Tanaka._

_Thank you_

_Jun Hwan Cha_

“Keiji?” Shoma asked gently. The other wiped his tears away and half smiled at the younger.

“It’s… He’s… How did he manage to stay so kind, even after everything? He doesn’t care about my past. He only cares about the fact that we saved him, and he wants us to be happy.”

Shoma unfolded his letter and handed it to Keiji. The other cleared his throat and read it aloud to the other in Japanese.

_Dear Shoma Uno,_

_Thank you. Thank you for making Jason so happy. Thank you for loving him with all your heart. Thank you for supporting Itsuki through everything. Thank you for saving me from there. I know we’ve had problems with the language barrier, but somehow, you’ve made me feel safe. I wish you and Jason all the happiness I can no longer give you. Please help Jason through this; I know this will hurt him but I can’t go on. Jason will get through this with your help because you two are so strong and your love is one of the brightest lights in this world. Please never stop loving, Mr Uno, because your love for Jason brightened mine and Itsuki’s lives too._

_Thank you_

_Jun Hwan Cha_

Shoma bit his lip hard, tears running down his face too as Keiji passed the letter back to him.

“Thank you for translating it,” Shoma mumbled, half smiling back. “God, how did he manage to stay so sweet and kind to us?”

“I don’t know,” Keiji mumbled, wiping his eyes too. “I wish I’d spoken to him more when I’d had the chance.”

“I wish I had too, but we didn’t talk to him. We can’t change it so we can’t regret it.” Shoma rubbed his own eyes before he stroked Itsuki’s hair again. “W-we just have to remember him. Like Yuzuru and Javier, we have to remember him as the child who tried his best to smile through everything.”

Keiji nodded, and Jason unfolded his letter from beside Shoma.

_Dear Jason,_

_I’m so sorry Jason. I’m sorry I never got to show you around Seoul again, or go shopping with you, or introduce you properly to Minho, or save up for our café together. I’m sorry I’ll never get to hug you again, or see you smile, or be able to play games with you and mess around again with you. I’m sorry I ended it like this, but I couldn’t do it anymore. It hurts Jason. Missing you, missing everyone, it hurts more than what they’ve done here. Thoughts of coming back to you got me through this before, and got me through this much, but missing you really hurts. I love you like a big brother Jason. Thank you for taking care of me as much as you have. Don’t look back. Don’t think about me. Think about your happiness with Shoma. Please look after him and love him with your beautiful love. Go on and light up the world with your happiness and kindness that lit up my life. Thank you for being in my life Jason, and I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to get back home to you._

_I love you. Thank you_

_Jun_

Jason’s face crumbled and he burst into tears properly, covering his mouth as he sobbed. Shoma hugged him with one arm; he kept the other wrapped around Itsuki’s shoulders gently but he held Jason close with the other. Jason sobbed into his shoulder, letting out all the tears he’d held in when he’d tried to stay strong for all of them. Shoma’s heart broke at Jason’s small noises of pain. His sobs died down to whimpers and hiccups instead.

Minho, once his sobs had died down too, sat up. He didn’t bother wiping his eyes before he unfolded his letter from Jun.

_Dear Minho,_

_Do you remember when we used to play Pokémon together and laugh? Do you remember when you used to give me piggy backs around our house, and I would shout “horsey faster!” every time? Do you remember when we would watch films together, and you’d let me cry into your shoulder, or hide my face in your shoulder if it got sad or scary? Do you remember the time you tried to make us brownies in the mug and you burnt them in the microwave? Do you remember when I first went to school and you told me that you’d beat up anyone who tried to pick on me? Do you remember when I met Jason and told you to take your university place and not to worry about me? Minho, you’re my big brother. You’ve been with me through everything that life has thrown at me. I love you so much, much much more than I know how to say. I can’t imagine life without you in it because you’ve always been there for me. I’m sorry for getting hurt. I’m sorry for getting taken twice. I’m sorry for bringing you shame. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t be someone you’re proud of. But Minho, please please please stay at university. Finish your degree. Go and be the best chemist in the world. Do everything you planned to do and don’t look back. Live, please, for me, and be the best person in the world. I really hope you get everything you deserve. I will always love you, Minho_

_I love you so much. Thank you for everything._

_Your baby brother Jun_

Minho sniffed, wiping his eyes furiously as more tears stubbornly fell. He swallowed the lump in his throat but he couldn’t hold back the sobs. He lowered his head, whispering soft Korean apologies that Jun couldn’t hear.

“Itsuki,” Shoma whispered into his hair, “there’s a letter for you from Jun. I-I think you should read it.”

Itsuki sniffed and peeled himself away from Shoma with red rimmed eyes. He took his letter out of the envelope with shaky hands before he swallowed and unfolded it.

_Dear Itsuki,_

_I’ve only had the chance to fall in love once in my life, and I am eternally grateful that it was you that I had the chance to fall in love with. From the very first moment when we met in Tokyo, something about you drew me in. You’ve always been so kind and warm. You’ve never judged me for the things that happened. Instead, you’ve been open and kind, accepting and loving, honest and sweet. Yuna told me that little things can set you off and trigger you, but it’s the little things that you’ve done for me that enhanced my life. From staying up in the middle of the night to play games, to eating mango ice cream whilst watching anime together, I have loved every little moment that I have spent with you. You have been so sweet to me, and I love you. You are my first and only love, and my last thoughts will be of you, Itsuki. I hope you can find someone as fantastic and sweet as you are.  I hope you can find someone that you deserve: someone as funny, kind, brilliant, beautiful, honest, loving, and perfect as you are. I love you so much Itsuki Uno. Thank you for being in my life. Even if our time together was brief, it was some of the best parts of my life._

_I love you so much Itsuki. Thank you thank you thank you for everything you’ve given me. Please give it to the rest of the world too. You’re my light in the darkness and I love you so much_

_Your Junnie_

_Dear Suho,_

_I’m sorry I won’t come home to you again. But you’ve got to take care of Itsuki now, okay? Just like how you let me cuddle you late at night when everything hurt, you’ve got to do the same for Itsuki. Let him cry on him. Let him cuddle you. Let him love you to fill in the painful gap in your heart. Thank you for being the best bunny in the world. I love you so much_

_Jun x_

Itsuki’s face crumpled again, and he hid his face in Shoma’s shoulder. The whole group rushed together and cuddled up and sobbed together, surrounded by nature the love of each other. The shared weight of the loss of Jun hung in the air as the five held onto each other for a while in silence as they mourned and cried.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two gunshots rang out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so here we are. At the end. This is the last chapter. The final chapter of this story. Sorry it's been a while; I was on holiday and went away. (I went to Disneyland and bought myself a Pooh bear :D) Am I perfectly happy with this chapter and this story? Not exactly. Am I glad that I chose to end it like this? Yes, I am. There's a little bit at the start of this chapter specifically for my favourite cheerleader in the comments (thank you so much! Sorry it's still laced with angst but... yeah. Enjoy xxx)  
> Thank you again to everyone who has been supporting me through this story and through all the problems it has brought. Things would be very different without the support of all of you. So thank you so much; this ending is for you guys xxx

Two gunshots rang out and Daisuke spun around in his office, eyes widening ever so slightly. Both his guards lay on the floor of his office with blood running from the gunshot wounds in the backs of their heads. The leader tilted his head as he studied the group that had burst into his office.

“Stephane. It’s been a while.”

The other didn’t give him a reply. Instead, two of his men restrained Daisuke and patted him down, withdrawing concealed guns and knives that were hidden all across his body underneath his suit. The Japanese man didn’t both struggling. Not against twelve others.

“I never thought you’d be the one to come for me, Stephane. I always considered us on more friendly terms than this.”

“We were,” Stephane finally spoke up, “until you went back on our loose peace by taking people, and damaging them.”

“If you’re talking about your plaything—”

“Deniss is not my plaything.” Stephane cut in with a hiss, “because, unlike you, I don’t fuck the people who work under me. I don’t use them when they’re at their most vulnerable. Tell me Daisuke, when your guy came back from Canada, what did you do to him?”

“Why do you care?”

Stephane pressed the gun to Daisuke’s neck, eyes burning with a rage he could barely keep contained. “What did you do?”

“Fucked him over a desk and made him suffer until he couldn’t see straight with my belt with one strike for every hour he was gone. I didn’t give them all at once, of course. I layered them to add to his pain. Then I told him not to die and shoved him out of here. I think he ran to Tanaka with his tail between his legs and blood flowing from his back and spilling down the inside of his thighs. I’m not a gentle lover, but he loves it rough anyway.” Daisuke spat. “And the next day he went back to work, because I will not tolerate laziness and timewasting, fucked or not, bleeding back or not.”

“Know what I did when we got Deniss and Matteo back? I sent them to a therapist. I helped them recover. Did I make them do any work until before they were recovered? Of course not. Because I’m not a sadistic bastard like you are.”

“This is how it worked before me and is how it will always work here.”

“You have no heir to this place, Daisuke. You were never grooming Hanyu to be your heir. He was always your plaything only. But you tried to convince everyone that he would be your heir, only none of us bought it. Not me. Not the Canadians. Not Evgeni. Not Johnny. No one. If we take you out, this is the end of your organisation.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Daisuke only just got out before he was shoved down the corridor. “Someone will take over for me, and then you’ll suffer. Removing me makes no difference.”

“Save it,” Stephane waved his hand and Daisuke was dragged out of the building and into the European’s vehicle, “for someone who actually gives a shit about what you have to say.”

Daisuke tested the restraints on his wrists as he was shoved into a seat. Stephane sat on one side of him, and another man with a neatly shaved beard sat on the other side of him. Daisuke raised an eyebrow at the two youngsters sitting opposite to the three.

“Interesting choice to bring two teenagers with you Stephane,” Daisuke said, raising his eyebrows.

“I was going to leave them, but I didn’t want to leave them with no one looking out for them, so they had to come with us.”

“And you couldn’t have gone crawling back to Johnny to ask him for his help again?” Daisuke raised an eyebrow at him. “Didn’t you used to do whatever he asked because he had better connections than you?”

“We all did things in the past to get to where we are now,” Stephane said with a level voice and look as he met Daisuke’s eyes dead on. “At least my hands are cleaner than several others. Like yours. I’ve never fucked a fifteen-year-old.”

“Hanyu begged me to do it.”

“Or a seventeen-year-old.”

Daisuke glanced over at Matteo and Deniss on the other side of the vehicle and smirked. Stephane may had caught him, but he could at least jab the sword in again.

“Jun Hwan Cha is dead.”

Matteo visibly stiffened and Deniss let out a little gasp. “W-what?” The Italian stuttered, wide eyes searching Daisuke’s face for a sign he was lying.

“He is dead. He died in Tokyo. Guess he was too weak to handle being fucked.”

Matteo’s tears overflowed his eyes and ran down his cheeks. “T-Tokyo? Did he… Did he ever get home? See Seoul one more time? Speak to his family? His friends? Anything?!”

“No.” Daisuke enjoyed the way the one simple word shattered Matteo’s heart. “He was in Sendai, and then I moved him Tokyo where he enjoyed the rest of his days.”

Deniss pulled the other into a hug, raw anger burning in his eyes. “There’s a special place in hell for you, you bastard.”

“Want to know what his last words were? His last words were the whimpers and gasps for help, for someone to stop, as he had an orgasm.”

Matteo let out a small sob as he buried his face in Deniss’ shoulder. Stephane gagged Daisuke, but the damage was more than done.

* * *

 

“Here,” Minho handed Jason an envelope. The other opened it and gasped, thumbing through the thirty million South Korean won inside. [about $25,000]

“What… What’s this?” He asked softly, looking up at the other.

“It’s the money we as a family saved over the years. For… For university…”

“I can’t take this,” Jason offered the envelope back. “I-I can’t… I-I can’t take it.”

“Jun would have wanted you to have it.” He said softly. “He would want you to use it and open up that café that the two of you wanted. Please, please take it and make his dreams come true.”

Jason looked down at the money with tears in his eyes before he nodded slowly and hugged Minho tightly. “I’m so sorry—”

“Seriously, don’t apologise. None of this is your fault. All you’ve ever done is help him.” Minho wiped at his eyes before he gestured to the envelope again. “So please, help him one more time.”

“I promise. I promise you, forever, right now, that I will make a place he’s proud of.”

“I know you will. And I’ll be in to visit it as much as I can to support you.”

* * *

 

“Tell me again why we have to listen to this music?” Shoma huffed, hair pushed out of his eyes by a green headband. Splatters of the cream paint they’d been trying to cover the far wall in covered his cheeks, and he huffed, putting the paint roller down.

“Because it’s upbeat and fun,” Itsuki countered, sticking his tongue out at his older brother before he adjusted his own purple headband and picked up his finer brush, dipped in black paint instead of the cream. He turned back to the completed wall, adding small details onto his paintings.

Keiji laughed at Shoma’s pout with an iguana balanced on his shoulders. The pair had matching black headbands on, and he reached the parts of the walls that Shoma couldn’t, even with the roller on a stick. “Oh, let your little brother be. It’s good music. If a little trashy.”

“EXO isn’t trashy!” Itsuki shouted from across the room.

“What’s the arguing about now?” Jason asked, blue headband standing out against the curls it pushed back and out of his eyes. “Oh, wow guys, this place is looking great! Itsuki, that’s looking really beautiful over there.”

The younger half smiled before he went back to his detailed painting, sticking his tongue out a little as he focused on the work at hand.

Shoma dipped his finger in the paint and then drew a heart on Jason’s cheek with it. “Love you. What have you got there?”

“Love you too,” he kissed his cheek before he held out the framed poster. “I think we should display this. Someone would have wanted us too.”

“He got a signed TVXQ poster?” Keiji looked over, eyebrows raised, “Watch that no one steals it.”

“I doubt they will. They’d have to be a certain level of low to steal it.” Shoma lowered his voice to Keiji so that Jason couldn’t hear his reply. Not that Jason was listening anyway; he was comparing different floor plans.

“I’m thinking square tables around the edge and against the wall. And then some bigger ones here, for four or six or eight. What do you guys think?”

“Sounds perfect.” Shoma caught himself humming along to the music and swaying as he went back to painting the wall. “And planning that has to be more interesting than watching paint dry.”

“Don’t look at it then. Go and knit or something.”

“Don’t tempt me!”

Jason laughed, a proper laugh, before he picked up a roller too and started to help Shoma and Keiji with the last wall that needed painting cream. “Thanks. For being with me and everything.”

“Well, there’s something appealing about opening a café with the love of your life and looking after it together.” Shoma shrugged, pausing in his work to look at Jason. “I think you’re really brave, Jason.”

“Brave?”

“Look at you. You’re going to do something that will remind you of the most painful things you’ve ever had to live through for the rest of your life. Are you sure about this?”

“It’s what Jun would have wanted. I owe it to his memory and to him. I want to remember him, and make people happy like he did.”

“And that’s why you’re really brave to me.” Shoma leaned up to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Any ideas on what you’re going to call this place?”

“Well, I was thinking Jun’s Place, but it’s a little cheesy. Then maybe Bunny Heaven because, you know, bunny café, but it sounds like an animal cemetery.”

“Four guys, a bunny, an iguana, and one cup?” Keiji joked from across the room. In return, Shoma rolled the paint roller across his whole face before he burst out laughing. “Hey! Don’t get paint on me or Elle!”

“Bit late for that,” Jason laughed, shaking his head as Keiji started chasing Shoma around with a paint roller. “How old are you guys again?”

“Twenty-four and twenty-one!” Itsuki supplied helpfully from across the room, finishing off his cursive English underneath the carefully written Kanji and Hangul. “They don’t act like it.”

“Says the one with a bunny inside his jumper right now,” Shoma retorted, letting his guard down long enough to get a stripe of cream paint on his cheek. “Keiji!”

Suho’s fluffy head popped out next to Itsuki’s and he laughed, kissing his ears gently before he stepped back from the wall. “Does this look okay?”

Jason, Shoma, and Keiji all looked up at the wall and froze. Painted with bright smiles on all of their faces and glowing in 2D with happiness, Itsuki had recreated Yuzuru, Javier, and Jun’s head’s and shoulders on the wall in black paint. Underneath each one, Itsuki had written their names and dates in Japanese, Korean, and English, as well as a sentence to describe each one in Japanese.

_Yuzuru Hanyu_

_Always willing to sacrifice himself for the ones he loved the most_

_Javier Fernandez_

_Will be remembered for being strong willed and supportive when we most needed it_

_Jun Hwan Cha_

_His personality lit up all our lives and he never stopped loving, even in the worst moments; this place is for you Jun_

“Oh Itsuki,” Jason whispered as Shoma pulled his brother into a paint and love filled hug, “it’s beautiful.”

“Do you think…?”

“He’d love it.” Jason said seriously. “Now, come on. I need someone to help me adopt some bunnies!”

Itsuki peeled himself away from Shoma, glaring at him for the cream paint on his old green jumper. “What about Forever Café?”

Shoma blinked at him. “Forever Café?”

“Well, yeah. I promise to remember Jun forever. You and Keiji will remember Yuzuru forever. Jason will remember Javier forever. People can make promises here forever with the bunnies. Forever it will be a place where people can just relax and enjoy themselves. Why not?”

“That’s actually a lovely idea,” Jason said with a soft smile. “I really like that. Forever Café. It sounds good too.”

Itsuki smiled brightly before he tugged off his jumper and followed Jason out, leaving Keiji and Shoma to finish painting the wall cream.

Jason and Itsuki walked together to the animal adoption centre, and the older smiled as he spoke easily to his contact at the place. The teenage volunteer smiled, leading them down a hallway, before she opened the door for them. There, in the room, were dozens of bunnies sitting around the room.

“Pick out a few if you’d like. Bunnies can die from loneliness, and we don’t want any to be left alone, just in case.”

Jason nodded, and, before he and Itsuki could really look around the room, a small ball of fluff barrelled into Itsuki’s leg. The tiny grey and white bunny started giving him little bunny kisses, and Itsuki couldn’t help but smile and laugh.

“Oh my God, he’s so cute!” Itsuki picked him up and stroked the bunny’s ears. “Jason, we can’t _not_ keep this one! Please?”

“He is adorable.” Jason said with a soft smile. When he too stroked the bunny’s ears, it leaned into his touch. “Does he have a name?”

The young lady who had led them in shook her head, and Jason’s smile widened at Itsuki. “You can name him then. If you want to.”

Itsuki held up the pygmy rabbit to eye level, and it tried to reach for him to give him kisses. Something in its dark eyes seemed so familiar to him, and he swallowed the small lump in his throat down.

“Junbun.” He said softly. “Junbun. After Jun.”

Jason half smiled before he stroked Junbun’s ears again. “I think it’s perfect. Should we pick out some more?”

After choosing bunnies and naming all of them, Jason and Itsuki staggered home to the café with all the bunnies in their arms and resting on their shoulders. When they got back, Keiji and Shoma had finished the last wall and had painted a sign between them calling It the Forever Café. Itsuki’s smile lit up and, after setting down their new bunnies, he went to scoop up Suho. He found his original bunny peppering the new pygmy bunny with little kisses to its snout and fluffy face, and Itsuki’s heart melted at the adorable sight before him. Both bunnies almost sensed that he was there and threw themselves at him, giving his neck the softest bunny kisses.

* * *

 

“Thank you, come again soon!” Jason smiled, handing out a latte in a ceramic to-go cup. He waved at him and lightly stroked one of the bunny’s ears as he walked out into the warmth of the Seoul sun. Jason sighed, grinning at the café full of people chatting and petting the bunnies. He glanced at his pocket where a certain pygmy bunny was napping happily. “You alright Junbun? Itsuki will be back from school soon for you. Are you going to go and meet him when he comes in? Are you? I think he’d really like it if you did.”

The bell above the door rang, and Jason looked up. His face softened at Itsuki as he came into the café with a wide smile.

“Heya Jason.”

“Hey Itsuki. One hot chocolate?”

“You know it,” he smiled, letting out a sigh. “I forgot how tiring school is.”

As Jason turned to make the hot chocolate, Junbun jumped out of his pocket and ran across the floor to tug at Itsuki’s trouser leg. “Heya Junbun! Did you behave today? Cause Shoma, Keiji, or Jason any problems?”

The bunny wiggled its tiny ears and Itsuki had to hold back his scream at the adorableness of it all. He carried him and his hot chocolate over to his table in the café: the table right next to Jun on the memorial on the wall. He looked up with a half-smile before he cleared his throat.

“Hey Jun. I joined the hockey team at school here, and I think they like me. Um, I really miss you. You’d love this café that Jason has opened up. It has so many bunnies that there is one everywhere you look. There’s even one that reminds me of you. He has these beautiful, big dark eyes, and he’s a cute pygmy bunny. He’s soft, with grey and white fur, and he’s the only bunny who wears the ugly knitted sweaters my brother made for the bunnies. He also sleeps a lot in Jason’s pocket, and he gives me kisses when I come home. I named him after you. I hope you don’t mind. I love you Jun. Forever.”

Junbun cuddled up against his chest, giving him a little kiss on the neck. The teenager smiled, bouncing both Suho and Junbun lightly before he started to work on his homework.

“He’s adorable,” Shoma smiled, leaning next to Jason on the counter as he watched Itsuki, “and he’s recovering. The mental scars are still hurting, but I think he’s getting better. The bunnies are helping him too.”

“Especially Junbun,” Jason nodded, looking at the pygmy bunny nuzzling against Itsuki, “and he’s brought in a lot of customers because people want to see the cute bunny that won’t leave Itsuki alone.”

Shoma nodded, face settling into a thoughtful expression as he watched his little brother more. “Jason?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think it’s him?”

Jason frowned a little at his boyfriend. “Do I think what is who?”

 “The bunny. Doesn’t it remind you of someone?”

Jason looked at the pygmy bunny that had fallen asleep next to Suho and nuzzling Itsuki’s hand. It was a beautiful little creature that was always bouncing around with energy. He never failed to make someone laugh with his cute little antics: be it sleeping in an empty mug, following Itsuki or Jason around like a lost duckling, or just nosing at the memorial on the wall. Junbun was as much of a reason why people came to the café as Jason’s signature Mississippi Mud Pie dessert. Junbun was a bubbly bunny who lit up the room and seemed to always want to make people smile.

“O-oh…” It dawned on Jason. “I-I… Oh…”

Shoma rubbed his arm with a soft smile. “He’s here, Jason. He got to see the dream you both worked so hard for come to light.”

Jason swallowed the lump in his throat and wiped away his tears quickly. “I-I hope he likes it. I really do. T-thank you, Shoma, for pointing it out to me.”

The road wasn’t perfect. It was rough and they’d taken so many hits it was a miracle that they’d stayed standing up. But Jun’s dream had come true and, in one form or another, he’d seen it be achieved.

Junbun nuzzled up against Itsuki’s neck as he was held on his shoulder carefully. The pygmy bunny looked up at the memorial, at Yuzuru’s face, Javier’s face, and his own face, and smiled a soft little smile.


End file.
